HTML::SimpleLinkExtor(3)

NAME
HTML::SimpleLinkExtor - Extract links from HTML

SYNOPSIS
        use HTML::SimpleLinkExtor;

        my $extor = HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->new();
        $extor->parse_file($filename);
        #--or--
        $extor->parse($html);

        $extor->parse_file($other_file); # get more links

        $extor->clear_links; # reset the link list

        #extract all of the links
        @all_links   = $extor->links;

        #extract the img links
        @img_srcs    = $extor->img;

        #extract the frame links
        @frame_srcs  = $extor->frame;

        #extract the hrefs
        @area_hrefs  = $extor->area;
        @a_hrefs     = $extor->a;
        @base_hrefs  = $extor->base;
        @hrefs       = $extor->href;

        #extract the body background link
        @body_bg     = $extor->body;
        @background  = $extor->background;

        @links       = $extor->schemes( 'http' );

DESCRIPTION
This is a simple HTML link extractor designed for the person who does not want to deal with the intricacies of "HTML::Parser" or the de-referencing needed to get links out of "HTML::LinkExtor".

You can extract all the links or some of the links (based on the HTML tag name or attribute name). If a "<BASE HREF>" tag is found, all of the relative URLs will be resolved according to that reference.

This module is simply a subclass around "HTML::LinkExtor", so it can only parse what that module can handle. Invalid HTML or XHTML may cause problems.

If you parse multiple files, the link list grows and contains the aggregate list of links for all of the files parsed. If you want to reset the link list between files, use the clear_links method.

  Class Methods

$extor = HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->new()
    Create the link extractor object.

$extor = HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->new('')
$extor = HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->new($base)
    Create the link extractor object and resolve the relative URLs accoridng to the supplied base URL. The supplied base URL overrides any other base URL found in the HTML.

    Create the link extractor object and do not resolve relative links.

HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->ua;
    Returns the internal user agent, an "LWP::UserAgent" object.

HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->add_tags( TAG [, TAG ] )
    "HTML::SimpleLinkExtor" keeps an internal list of HTML tags (such as 'a' and 'img') that have URLs as values. If you run into another tag that this module doesn't handle, please send it to me and I'll add it. Until then you can add that tag to the internal list. This affects the entire class, including previously created objects.

HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->add_attributes( ATTR [, ATTR] )
    "HTML::SimpleLinkExtor" keeps an internal list of HTML tag attributes (such as 'href' and 'src') that have URLs as values. If you run into another attribute that this module doesn't handle, please send it to me and I'll add it. Until then you can add that attribute to the internal list. This affects the entire class, including previously created objects.

can()
    A smarter "can" that can tell which attributes are also methods.

HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->remove_tags( TAG [, TAG ] )
    Take tags out of the internal list that "HTML::SimpleLinkExtor" uses to extract URLs. This affects the entire class, including previously created objects.

HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->remove_attributes( ATTR [, ATTR] )
    Takes attributes out of the internal list that "HTML::SimpleLinkExtor" uses to extract URLs. This affects the entire class, including previously created objects.

HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->attribute_list
    Returns a list of the attributes "HTML::SimpleLinkExtor" pays attention to.

HTML::SimpleLinkExtor->tag_list
    Returns a list of the tags "HTML::SimpleLinkExtor" pays attention to. These tags have convenience methods.

  Object methods

$extor->parse_file( $filename )
    Parse the file for links. Inherited from "HTML::Parser".

$extor->parse_url( $url [, $ua] )
    Fetch URL and parse its content for links.

$extor->parse( $data )
    Parse the HTML in $data. Inherited from "HTML::Parser".

$extor->clear_links
    Clear the link list. This way, you can use the same parser for another file.

$extor->links
    Return a list of the links.

$extor->img
    Return a list of the links from all the SRC attributes of the IMG.

$extor->frame
    Return a list of all the links from all the SRC attributes of the FRAME.

$extor->iframe
    Return a list of all the links from all the SRC attributes of the IFRAME.

$extor->frames
    Returns the combined list from frame and iframe.

$extor->src
    Return a list of the links from all the SRC attributes of any tag.

$extor->a
    Return a list of the links from all the HREF attributes of the A tags.

$extor->area
    Return a list of the links from all the HREF attributes of the AREA tags.

$extor->base
    Return a list of the links from all the HREF attributes of the BASE tags. There should only be one.

$extor->href
    Return a list of the links from all the HREF attributes of any tag.

$extor->body, $extor->background
    Return the link from the BODY tag's BACKGROUND attribute.

$extor->script
    Return the link from the SCRIPT tag's SRC attribute

$extor->schemes( SCHEME, [ SCHEME, ... ] )
    Return the links that use any of SCHEME. These must be absolute URLs (which might include those converted to absolute URLs by specifying a base). SCHEME is case-insensitive. You can specify more than one scheme.

    In list context it returns the links. In scalar context it returns the count of the matching links.

$extor->absolute_links
    Returns the absolute URLs (which might include those converted to absolute URLs by specifying a base).

    In list context it returns the links. In scalar context it returns the count of the matching links.

$extor->relative_links
    Returns the relatives URLs (which might exclude those converted to absolute URLs by specifying a base or having a base in the document).

    In list context it returns the links. In scalar context it returns the count of the matching links.

TO DO
This module doesn't handle all of the HTML tags that might have links. If someone wants those, I'll add them, or you can edit %AUTO_METHODS in the source.

CREDITS
Will Crain who identified a problem with IMG links that had a USEMAP attribute.

AUTHORS
brian d foy, "<bdfoy@cpan.org>"

Maintained by Nigel Horne, "<njh at bandsman.co.uk>"

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright © 2004-2019, brian d foy <bdfoy@cpan.org>. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0.