NAME

Badger::URL - representation of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

SYNOPSIS

    use Badger::URL;

    # all-in-one URL string
    my $url = Badger::URL->new(
        'http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger#stripe'
    );

    # named parameters
    my $url = Badger::URL->new(
        scheme      => 'http',
        user        => 'abw',
        host        => 'badgerpower.com',
        port        => '8080',
        path        => '/under/ground',
        query       => 'animal=badger',
        fragment    => 'stripe',
    );

    # methods to access standard W3C parts of URL
    print $url->scheme;     # http
    print $url->authority;  # abw@badgerpower.com:8080
    print $url->user;       # abw
    print $url->host;       # badgerpower.com
    print $url->port;       # 8080
    print $url->path;       # /under/ground
    print $url->query;      # animal=badger
    print $uri->fragment;   # stripe

    # additional composite methods:
    print $url->server;
        # http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080

    print $url->service;
        # http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground

    print $url->request;
        # http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger

    # method to return the whole URL
    print $url->url();
        # http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger#stripe

    # overloaded stringification operator calls url() method
    print $url;
        # http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger#stripe

DESCRIPTION

This module implements an object for representing URLs. It can parse existing URLs to break them down into their constituent parts, and also to generate new or modified URLs.

The emphasis is on simplicity and convenience for tasks related to web programming (e.g. dispatching web applications based on the URL, generating URLs for redirects or embedding as links in HTML pages). If you want more generic URI functionality then you should consider using the URI module.

A URL looks like this:

     http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger#stripe
     \__/   \______________________/\___________/ \___________/ \____/
      |                |                  |             |          |
    scheme         authority             path         query     fragment

The "authority" part can be broken down further:

     abw@badgerpower.com:8080
     \_/ \_____________/ \__/
      |         |         |
     user      host      port

A Badger::URL object will parse a URL and store the component parts internally. You can then change any of the individual parts and regenerate the URL.

    my $url = Badger::URL->new(
        'http://badgerpower.com/'
    );
    $url->port('8080');
    $url->path('/under/ground');
    $url->query('animal=badger');
    print $url;   # http://badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger

METHODS

new($url)

This constructor method is used to create a new URL object.

    my $url = Badger::URL->new(
        'http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger#stripe'
    );

You can also specify the individual parts of the URL using named paramters.

    my $url = Badger::URL->new(
        scheme      => 'http',
        user        => 'abw',
        host        => 'badgerpower.com',
        port        => '8080',
        path        => '/under/ground',
        query       => 'animal=badger',
        fragment    => 'stripe',
    );

copy()

This method creates and returns a new "Badger::URL" object as a copy of the current one.

    my $copy = $url->copy;

url()

Method to return the complete URL.

    print $url->url;
        # http://abw@badgerpower.com:8080/under/ground?animal=badger#stripe

This method is called automatically whenever the URL object is stringified.

    print $url;                 # same as above

text()

An alias for the url() method.

scheme()

Method to get or set the scheme part of the URL.

    $url = Badger::URL->new('http://badgerpower.com/);
    print $url->scheme();       # http
    $url->scheme('ftp');
    print $url->scheme();       # ftp

authority()

Method to get or set the authority part of the URL. This is comprised of a host with optional user and/or port.

    $url->authority('badgerpower.com');
    $url->authority('abw@badgerpower.com');
    $url->authority('badgerpower.com:8080');
    $url->authority('abw@badgerpower.com:8080');

    print $url->authority();    # abw@badgerpower.com:8080

user()

Method to get or set the optional user in the authority part of the URL.

    $url->user('fred');
    print $url->user();         # fred
    print $url->authority();    # fred@badgerpower.com:8080

host()

Get or set the host in the authority part of the URL.

    $url->host('example.org');
    print $url->host();         # example.org
    print $url->authority();    # fred@example.org:8080

port()

Get or set the port in the authority part of the URL.

    $url->port(1234);
    print $url->port();         # 1234
    print $url->authority();    # fred@example.org:1234

path()

Get or set the path part of the URL.

    $url->path('/right/here');
    print $url->path();         # /right/here

query()

Get or set the query part of the URL. The leading '"?"' is not considered part of the query and should be should not be included when setting a new query.

    $url->query('animal=ferret');
    print $url->query();        # animal=ferret

params()

Get or set the query parameters.

    # get params
    my $params = $url->params;

    # set params
    $url->params(
        x => 10
    );

fragment()

Get or set the fragment part of the URL. The leading '#' is not considered part of the fragment and should be should not be included when setting a new fragment.

    $url->fragment('feet');
    print $url->fragment();     # feet

server()

Returns a composite of the scheme and authority.

    print $url->server();
        # http://fred@example.org:1234

service()

Returns a composite of the server (scheme and authority) and path (in other words, everything up to the query or fragment).

    print $url->server();
        # http://fred@example.org:1234/right/here

request()

Returns a composite of the service (scheme, authority and path) and query (in other words, everything except the fragment).

    print $url->request();
        # http://fred@example.org:1234/right/here?animal=badger

relative($path)

Returns a new URL with the relative path specified.

    my $base = Badger::URL->new('http://badgerpower.com/example');
    my $rel  = $base->relative('foo/bar');

    print $rel;     # http://badgerpower.com/example/foo/bar

absolute($path)

Returns a new URL with the absolute path specified. The leading "/" on the path provided as an argument is option. It will be assumed if not present.

    my $base = Badger::URL->new('http://badgerpower.com/example');
    my $rel  = $base->absolute('foo/bar');

    print $rel;     # http://badgerpower.com/foo/bar

INTERNAL METHODS

set($items)

This method is used to set internal values.

join_authority()

This method reconstructs the "authority" from the "host", "port" and "user".

join_query()

This method reconstructs the "query" from the query parameters.

join_url()

This method reconstructs the complete URL from its constituent parts.

split_authority()

This method splits the "authority" into "host", "port" and "user".

split_query()

This method splits the "query" string into query parameters.

dump()

Return a text representation of the structure of the URL object, for debugging purposes.

EXPORTABLE SUBROUTINES

URL($url)

This constructor function can be used to create a new URL. If the argument is already a "Badger::URL" object then it is copied to create a new object. Otherwise a new "Badger::URL" object is created from scratch.

    use Badger::URL 'URL';
    my $url1 = URL('http://example.com/foo');
    my $url2 = URL($url1);

AUTHOR

Andy Wardley <http://wardley.org/>

COPYRIGHT

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.