How to quickly start up a webserver with Python

Sometimes you need to quickly start up a webserver that serves up static files (I will describe such a case in the next post). Python to the rescue (works on both Linux and Windows if you have Python installed):

For Python 2.x (this is what most sites show you):

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 9914

For Python 3.x (thanks to this comment):

python -m http.server 9914

These will start up a webserver on port 9914, and you can access it via the address http://localhost:9914. Warning! The webserver will be available to anyone who can connect to your computer directly (unless there are other mechanisms to restrict it – like firewalls or NAT), so use your judgment!

Picture taken from bob's photostream with permission.