Understand How to Use django HttpResponseNotFound

In this tutorial, we'll learn how to use Django HttpResponseNotFound and the difference between HttpResponseNotFound and HttpResponse.

1. What is HttpResponseNotFound

HttpResponseNotFound: is a class that returns a response with 404 status

2. Using HttpResponseNotFound with examples

let's create a simpe view that returns a "No page Found" response.
But, first we need to import HttpResponseNotFound.

from django.http import HttpResponseNotFound

example #1:

def response_not_found_ex(request):
    return HttpResponseNotFound("<h1>Page Not Found</h1>")

Result:

Page View Source:

Response Status:

3. Why HttpResponseNotFound?

For example, let's say we want to return a model Queryset, and if the Queryset is empty, the client we'll get 404 Response.

def response_not_found_ex(request):
    obj = Comments.objects.all()
    if not obj:
        return HttpResponseNotFound("<h1>Page Not Found</h1>")

this is just one of many things you can do with HttpResponseNotFound

4. Difference between HttpResponseNotFound and HttpResponse

HttpResponseNotFound: returns a response with 404 status.
HttpResponse: returns a response with 200 status by default.

To be sure, let's see these two examples.

example #1: with HttpResponseNotFound

def response_not_found_ex(request):
    return HttpResponseNotFound("<h1>Page Not Found</h1>")

Response's Status:

example #2: with HttpResponse

def response_not_found_ex(request):
        return HttpResponse("<h1>Page Not Found</h1>")

Response's Status: