Python Get the real time currency exchange rate?

Python is very good at handling API calls. In this article we will see how we can handle the API calls for currency exchange rates in real time as well as historical.

Using forex-python

This module provides the most direct way of getting the currency conversion rates. It has functions and parameters which can take inputs for the required currency codes and then give the result for the conversion. The below example gives the live conversion rate.

Example

from forex_python.converter import CurrencyRates

c = CurrencyRates()

print(c.get_rate('USD', 'GBP'))

Output

Running the above code gives us the following result −

0.7357387755

Historical currency rates

We add a datetime object form the datetime module to the above example and that gives us the currency exchange rate at specific time and date.

Example

from forex_python.converter import CurrencyRates
import datetime

c = CurrencyRates()

dt = datetime.datetime(2020, 3, 27, 11, 21, 13, 114505)

print(c.get_rate('USD', 'INR', dt))

Output

Running the above code gives us the following result −

75.4937596793

Using web API

There are many APIs available which provide us the currency rates by making calls using a API key and getting back the result as JSON. We can further extend the code to convert the JSON to a list and format the data if needed.

Example

import requests

# Where USD is the base currency you want to use
url = 'https://v6.exchangerate-api.com/v6/336ccxxxxxxxxx8e74eac/latest/USD'

# Making our request
response = requests.get(url)
data = response.json()

# Your JSON object
print(data)

Output

Running the above code gives us the following result −

{'result': 'success', 'documentation': 'https://www.exchangerate-api.com/docs', 'terms_of_use': 'https://www.exchangerate-api.com/terms', 'time_last_update_unix': 1610323201, 'time_last_update_utc': 'Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:00:01 +0000', 'time_next_update_unix': 1610409616, 'time_next_update_utc': 'Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:16 +0000', 'base_code': 'USD', 'conversion_rates': {'USD': 1, 'AED': 3.6725, ………., 'XOF': 536.3826, 'XPF': 97.579, 'YER': 250.1264, 'ZAR': 15.2899, 'ZMW': 21.1561}}