LWP::Simple(3)        User Contributed Perl Documentation       LWP::Simple(3)


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 the LWP::UserAgent module.

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

       The user agent created by this module will identify itself as
       "LWP::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 returns "undef" if it fails.  The $url argument can
       be either a string or a reference to a URI object.

       You will not be able to examine the response code or response headers
       (like "Content-Type") when you are accessing the web using this
       function.  If you need that information you should use the full OO
       interface (see LWP::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 a File::Temp object.

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

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

STATUS CONSTANTS
       This module also exports the HTTP::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_CONTINUE
          RC_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS
          RC_OK
          RC_CREATED
          RC_ACCEPTED
          RC_NON_AUTHORITATIVE_INFORMATION
          RC_NO_CONTENT
          RC_RESET_CONTENT
          RC_PARTIAL_CONTENT
          RC_MULTIPLE_CHOICES
          RC_MOVED_PERMANENTLY
          RC_MOVED_TEMPORARILY
          RC_SEE_OTHER
          RC_NOT_MODIFIED
          RC_USE_PROXY
          RC_BAD_REQUEST
          RC_UNAUTHORIZED
          RC_PAYMENT_REQUIRED
          RC_FORBIDDEN
          RC_NOT_FOUND
          RC_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED
          RC_NOT_ACCEPTABLE
          RC_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED
          RC_REQUEST_TIMEOUT
          RC_CONFLICT
          RC_GONE
          RC_LENGTH_REQUIRED
          RC_PRECONDITION_FAILED
          RC_REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE
          RC_REQUEST_URI_TOO_LARGE
          RC_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE
          RC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR
          RC_NOT_IMPLEMENTED
          RC_BAD_GATEWAY
          RC_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
          RC_GATEWAY_TIMEOUT
          RC_HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED

CLASSIFICATION FUNCTIONS
       The HTTP::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 popular CGI
       module, you may be importing a "head" function from each module,
       producing a warning like "Prototype mismatch: sub main::head ($) vs
       none".  Get around this problem by just not importing LWP::Simple's
       "head" 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's "head" function, you can just call it
       as LWP::Simple::head($url).

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

perl v5.38.0                      2023-09-24                    LWP::Simple(3)