# Flask Access Request Data with request.args and More

> Use request.args for query string parameters, request.form for form data, request.cookies for cookies, and request.json for parsed JSON in a Flask request

**URL:** https://sentry.io/answers/get-data-flask-request/

---

## The Problem

You want to access the data passed into your Flask application, but when attempting to access the data using `request.data`, you found that sometimes the data returned is an empty string that does not represent the data you are trying to access.

## The Solution

The `request` module allows you to access the data passed into your Flask application through an HTTP request.
The data within a request can be accessed through the `request` module’s properties.
These properties allow for data to be stored in the many different forms that data can be received through HTTP requests, like: query strings, form data, cookies, and [more](https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/stable/api/#flask.Request).

The `.data` property should only be used in circumstances where the data passed into your Flask application comes with a mimetype that Flask does not handle.
Otherwise you should use the `request` property that reflects the type of the data you are trying to access.

### Access the right property

Make sure to use the `request` property that best suits your data.

Here are some `request` properties for common data types:

 - `request.args` accesses the query string (the URL parameters) and returns the key/value pairs.

 - `request.form` accesses form data and returns the form parameters (if the form uploads a file however, use `request.files` to access the file data).

 - `request.cookies` returns a dictionary with the cookies associated with the request.

 - `request.json` returns parsed JSON data if the `mimetype` is JSON.

[Here is a more comprehensive list of request properties.](https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/stable/api/#flask.Request)

---

*Source: [sentry.io/answers/get-data-flask-request/](https://sentry.io/answers/get-data-flask-request/)*