From fd16997f9fe861c6c70eec7ca12166f3c39fe137 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Qianye Su <976113615@qq.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 22:30:55 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] Handle scalar download targets as single paths

---
 cdsapi/api.py          |  12 ++++-
 tests/test_download.py | 115 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 125 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 tests/test_download.py

diff --git a/cdsapi/api.py b/cdsapi/api.py
index 376e739..ceb884d 100644
--- a/cdsapi/api.py
+++ b/cdsapi/api.py
@@ -598,9 +598,17 @@ def _download(self, results, targets=None):
         return results
 
     def download(self, results, targets=None):
+        """Download results to a single path or an iterable of target paths.
+
+        Targets are consumed in result traversal order. If no target is
+        provided, each result uses its default filename.
+        """
         if targets:
-            # Make a copy
-            targets = [t for t in targets]
+            if isinstance(targets, (str, bytes, os.PathLike)):
+                targets = [targets]
+            else:
+                # Make a copy so the caller's targets are not consumed.
+                targets = list(targets)
         return self._download(results, targets)
 
     def remote(self, url):
diff --git a/tests/test_download.py b/tests/test_download.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd59e3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_download.py
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import Mock
+
+import pytest
+import requests
+
+from cdsapi.api import Client, Result
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def client(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        requests.Session,
+        "request",
+        Mock(side_effect=AssertionError("Unexpected HTTP request")),
+    )
+    with requests.Session() as session:
+        yield Client(
+            url="https://example.invalid/api/",
+            key="test:token",
+            session=session,
+            quiet=True,
+            delete=False,
+        )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def download(monkeypatch):
+    download = Mock(
+        side_effect=lambda url, size, target: (
+            url.rsplit("/", 1)[-1] if target is None else target
+        )
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(Result, "_download", download)
+    return download
+
+
+def make_result(client, name, as_dict):
+    if as_dict:
+        return {"location": name, "contentLength": 1, "contentType": "test"}
+    return Result(
+        client,
+        {"location": name, "content_length": 1, "content_type": "test"},
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("as_dict", [False, True])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "targets,expected",
+    [
+        ("download.nc", "download.nc"),
+        (b"download.nc", b"download.nc"),
+        (Path("download.nc"), Path("download.nc")),
+        (["download.nc"], "download.nc"),
+        (("download.nc",), "download.nc"),
+        (None, "source.nc"),
+        ([], "source.nc"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_download_single_result(client, download, as_dict, targets, expected):
+    result = make_result(client, "source.nc", as_dict)
+    original = targets.copy() if isinstance(targets, list) else targets
+
+    assert client.download(result, targets) == expected
+
+    assert targets == original
+    target = None if not targets else expected
+    download.assert_called_once_with("https://example.invalid/api/source.nc", 1, target)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("as_dict", [False, True])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("result_type", [list, tuple])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("target_type", [list, tuple])
+def test_download_multiple_results(client, download, as_dict, result_type, target_type):
+    results = result_type(
+        make_result(client, name, as_dict) for name in ("a.nc", "b.nc")
+    )
+    targets = target_type(("first.nc", "second.nc"))
+
+    assert client.download(results, targets) == ["first.nc", "second.nc"]
+
+    assert list(targets) == ["first.nc", "second.nc"]
+    assert download.call_count == 2
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("target_type", [str, bytes, Path])
+def test_download_writes_target(client, tmp_path, target_type):
+    path = tmp_path / "download.nc"
+    target = bytes(path) if target_type is bytes else target_type(path)
+    payload = b"offline download payload"
+    response = Mock(spec=requests.Response)
+    response.status_code = 200
+    response.reason = "OK"
+    response.iter_content.return_value = [payload]
+    client.session.get = Mock(return_value=response)
+    result = Result(
+        client,
+        {
+            "location": "source.nc",
+            "content_length": len(payload),
+            "content_type": "test",
+        },
+    )
+
+    assert client.download(result, target) == target
+
+    assert path.read_bytes() == payload
+    response.close.assert_called_once_with()
+    client.session.get.assert_called_once_with(
+        "https://example.invalid/api/source.nc",
+        stream=True,
+        verify=client.verify,
+        headers=None,
+        timeout=client.timeout,
+    )