NAME

LWP::Simple - simple procedural interface to LWP

SYNOPSIS

perl -MLWP::Simple -e 'getprint "http://www.sn.no"'use LWP::Simple;$content = get("http://www.sn.no/");die "Couldn't get it!" unless defined $content;if (mirror("http://www.sn.no/", "foo") == RC_NOT_MODIFIED) {    ...}if (is_success(getprint("http://www.sn.no/"))) {    ...}

DESCRIPTION

This module is meant for people who want a simplified view of the libwww-perl library. It should also be suitable for one-liners. If you need more control or access to the header fields in the requests sent and responses received, then you should use the full object-oriented interface provided by theLWP::UserAgent module.

The module will also export theLWP::UserAgent object as$ua if you ask for it explicitly.

The user agent created by this module will identify itself asLWP::Simple/#.## and will initialize its proxy defaults from the environment (by calling$ua->env_proxy).

FUNCTIONS

The following functions are provided (and exported) by this module:

get

my $res = get($url);

The get() function will fetch the document identified by the given URL and return it. It returnsundef if it fails. The$url argument can be either a string or a reference to aURI object.

You will not be able to examine the response code or response headers (likeContent-Type) when you are accessing the web using this function. If you need that information you should use the full OO interface (seeLWP::UserAgent).

head

my $res = head($url);

Get document headers. Returns the following 5 values if successful: ($content_type, $document_length, $modified_time, $expires, $server)

Returns an empty list if it fails. In scalar context returns TRUE if successful.

getprint

my $code = getprint($url);

Get and print a document identified by a URL. The document is printed to the selected default filehandle for output (normally STDOUT) as data is received from the network. If the request fails, then the status code and message are printed on STDERR. The return value is the HTTP response code.

getstore

my $code = getstore($url, $file)my $code = getstore($url, $filehandle)

Gets a document identified by a URL and stores it in the file. The return value is the HTTP response code. You may also pass a writeable filehandle or similar, such as aFile::Temp object.

mirror

my $code = mirror($url, $file);

Get and store a document identified by a URL, usingIf-modified-since, and checking theContent-Length. Returns the HTTP response code.

STATUS CONSTANTS

This module also exports theHTTP::Status constants and procedures. You can use them when you check the response code from"getprint" in LWP::Simple,"getstore" in LWP::Simple or"mirror" in LWP::Simple. The constants are:

RC_CONTINUERC_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLSRC_OKRC_CREATEDRC_ACCEPTEDRC_NON_AUTHORITATIVE_INFORMATIONRC_NO_CONTENTRC_RESET_CONTENTRC_PARTIAL_CONTENTRC_MULTIPLE_CHOICESRC_MOVED_PERMANENTLYRC_MOVED_TEMPORARILYRC_SEE_OTHERRC_NOT_MODIFIEDRC_USE_PROXYRC_BAD_REQUESTRC_UNAUTHORIZEDRC_PAYMENT_REQUIREDRC_FORBIDDENRC_NOT_FOUNDRC_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWEDRC_NOT_ACCEPTABLERC_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIREDRC_REQUEST_TIMEOUTRC_CONFLICTRC_GONERC_LENGTH_REQUIREDRC_PRECONDITION_FAILEDRC_REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGERC_REQUEST_URI_TOO_LARGERC_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPERC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERRORRC_NOT_IMPLEMENTEDRC_BAD_GATEWAYRC_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLERC_GATEWAY_TIMEOUTRC_HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED

CLASSIFICATION FUNCTIONS

TheHTTP::Status classification functions are:

is_success

my $bool = is_success($rc);

True if response code indicated a successful request.

is_error

my $bool = is_error($rc)

True if response code indicated that an error occurred.

CAVEAT

Note that if you are using both LWP::Simple and the very popularCGI module, you may be importing ahead function from each module, producing a warning likePrototype mismatch: sub main::head ($) vs none. Get around this problem by just not importing LWP::Simple'shead function, like so:

use LWP::Simple qw(!head);use CGI qw(:standard);  # then only CGI.pm defines a head()

Then if you do need LWP::Simple'shead function, you can just call it asLWP::Simple::head($url).

SEE ALSO

LWP,lwpcook,LWP::UserAgent,HTTP::Status,lwp-request,lwp-mirror