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NAME
    LWP::UserAgent - Web user agent class

SYNOPSIS
        use strict;
        use warnings;

        use LWP::UserAgent ();

        my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new(timeout => 10);
        $ua->env_proxy;

        my $response = $ua->get('http://example.com');

        if ($response->is_success) {
            print $response->decoded_content;
        }
        else {
            die $response->status_line;
        }

    Extra layers of security (note the "cookie_jar" and "protocols_allowed"):

        use strict;
        use warnings;

        use HTTP::CookieJar::LWP ();
        use LWP::UserAgent       ();

        my $jar = HTTP::CookieJar::LWP->new;
        my $ua  = LWP::UserAgent->new(
            cookie_jar        => $jar,
            protocols_allowed => ['http', 'https'],
            timeout           => 10,
        );

        $ua->env_proxy;

        my $response = $ua->get('http://example.com');

        if ($response->is_success) {
            print $response->decoded_content;
        }
        else {
            die $response->status_line;
        }

DESCRIPTION
    The LWP::UserAgent is a class implementing a web user agent. LWP::UserAgent objects can be used
    to dispatch web requests.

    In normal use the application creates an LWP::UserAgent object, and then configures it with
    values for timeouts, proxies, name, etc. It then creates an instance of HTTP::Request for the
    request that needs to be performed. This request is then passed to one of the request method the
    UserAgent, which dispatches it using the relevant protocol, and returns a HTTP::Response object.
    There are convenience methods for sending the most common request types: "get" in
    LWP::UserAgent, "head" in LWP::UserAgent, "post" in LWP::UserAgent, "put" in LWP::UserAgent and
    "delete" in LWP::UserAgent. When using these methods, the creation of the request object is
    hidden as shown in the synopsis above.

    The basic approach of the library is to use HTTP-style communication for all protocol schemes.
    This means that you will construct HTTP::Request objects and receive HTTP::Response objects even
    for non-HTTP resources like *gopher* and *ftp*. In order to achieve even more similarity to
    HTTP-style communications, *gopher* menus and file directories are converted to HTML documents.

CONSTRUCTOR METHODS
    The following constructor methods are available:

  clone
        my $ua2 = $ua->clone;

    Returns a copy of the LWP::UserAgent object.

    CAVEAT: Please be aware that the clone method does not copy or clone your "cookie_jar"
    attribute. Due to the limited restrictions on what can be used for your cookie jar, there is no
    way to clone the attribute. The "cookie_jar" attribute will be "undef" in the new object
    instance.

  new
        my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( %options )

    This method constructs a new LWP::UserAgent object and returns it. Key/value pair arguments may
    be provided to set up the initial state. The following options correspond to attribute methods
    described below:

       KEY                            DEFAULT
       -----------                    --------------------
       agent                          "libwww-perl/#.###"
       allow_credentialed_redirects   undef
       conn_cache                     undef
       cookie_jar                     undef
       default_headers                HTTP::Headers->new
       from                           undef
       local_address                  undef
       max_redirect                   7
       max_size                       undef
       no_proxy                       []
       parse_head                     1
       protocols_allowed              undef
       protocols_forbidden            undef
       proxy                          undef
       requests_redirectable          ['GET', 'HEAD']
       ssl_opts                       { verify_hostname => 1 }
       timeout                        180

    When following a 3xx redirect to a different origin (a different scheme, host, or port),
    LWP::UserAgent strips "Authorization" and "Proxy-Authorization" from the cloned request to avoid
    leaking caller-supplied credentials to the redirect target. Set "allow_credentialed_redirects"
    to a true value to opt out and forward these headers across origins.

    The following additional options are also accepted: If the "env_proxy" option is passed in with
    a true value, then proxy settings are read from environment variables (see "env_proxy" in
    LWP::UserAgent). If "env_proxy" isn't provided, the "PERL_LWP_ENV_PROXY" environment variable
    controls if "env_proxy" in LWP::UserAgent is called during initialization. If the "keep_alive"
    option value is defined and non-zero, then an "LWP::ConnCache" is set up (see "conn_cache" in
    LWP::UserAgent). The "keep_alive" value is passed on as the "total_capacity" for the connection
    cache.

    "proxy" must be set as an arrayref of key/value pairs. "no_proxy" takes an arrayref of domains.

ATTRIBUTES
    The settings of the configuration attributes modify the behaviour of the LWP::UserAgent when it
    dispatches requests. Most of these can also be initialized by options passed to the constructor
    method.

    The following attribute methods are provided. The attribute value is left unchanged if no
    argument is given. The return value from each method is the old attribute value.

  agent
        my $agent = $ua->agent;
        $ua->agent('Checkbot/0.4 ');    # append the default to the end
        $ua->agent('Mozilla/5.0');
        $ua->agent("");                 # don't identify

    Get/set the product token that is used to identify the user agent on the network. The agent
    value is sent as the "User-Agent" header in the requests.

    The default is a string of the form "libwww-perl/#.###", where "#.###" is substituted with the
    version number of this library.

    If the provided string ends with space, the default "libwww-perl/#.###" string is appended to
    it.

    The user agent string should be one or more simple product identifiers with an optional version
    number separated by the "/" character.

  allow_credentialed_redirects
        my $allow = $ua->allow_credentialed_redirects;
        $ua->allow_credentialed_redirects( 1 );

    Get/set whether caller-supplied "Authorization" and "Proxy-Authorization" headers are forwarded
    across cross-origin 3xx redirects (a different scheme, host, or port). Defaults to a false
    value, meaning the headers are stripped on cross-origin redirects to avoid leaking credentials
    to the redirect target. Same-origin redirects always retain these headers.

  conn_cache
        my $cache_obj = $ua->conn_cache;
        $ua->conn_cache( $cache_obj );

    Get/set the LWP::ConnCache object to use. See LWP::ConnCache for details.

  cookie_jar
        my $jar = $ua->cookie_jar;
        $ua->cookie_jar( $cookie_jar_obj );

    Get/set the cookie jar object to use. The only requirement is that the cookie jar object must
    implement the "extract_cookies($response)" and "add_cookie_header($request)" methods. These
    methods will then be invoked by the user agent as requests are sent and responses are received.
    Normally this will be a HTTP::Cookies object or some subclass. You are, however, encouraged to
    use HTTP::CookieJar::LWP instead. See "BEST PRACTICES" for more information.

        use HTTP::CookieJar::LWP ();

        my $jar = HTTP::CookieJar::LWP->new;
        my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( cookie_jar => $jar );

        # or after object creation
        $ua->cookie_jar( $cookie_jar );

    The default is to have no cookie jar, i.e. never automatically add "Cookie" headers to the
    requests.

    Shortcut: If a reference to a plain hash is passed in, it is replaced with an instance of
    HTTP::Cookies that is initialized based on the hash. This form also automatically loads the
    HTTP::Cookies module. It means that:

      $ua->cookie_jar({ file => "$ENV{HOME}/.cookies.txt" });

    is really just a shortcut for:

      require HTTP::Cookies;
      $ua->cookie_jar(HTTP::Cookies->new(file => "$ENV{HOME}/.cookies.txt"));

  credentials
        my $creds = $ua->credentials();
        $ua->credentials( $netloc, $realm );
        $ua->credentials( $netloc, $realm, $uname, $pass );
        $ua->credentials("www.example.com:80", "Some Realm", "foo", "secret");

    Get/set the user name and password to be used for a realm.

    The $netloc is a string of the form "<host>:<port>". The username and password will only be
    passed to this server.

  default_header
        $ua->default_header( $field );
        $ua->default_header( $field => $value );
        $ua->default_header('Accept-Encoding' => scalar HTTP::Message::decodable());
        $ua->default_header('Accept-Language' => "no, en");

    This is just a shortcut for "$ua->default_headers->header( $field => $value )".

  default_headers
        my $headers = $ua->default_headers;
        $ua->default_headers( $headers_obj );

    Get/set the headers object that will provide default header values for any requests sent. By
    default this will be an empty HTTP::Headers object.

  from
        my $from = $ua->from;
        $ua->from('foo AT bar.com');

    Get/set the email address for the human user who controls the requesting user agent. The address
    should be machine-usable, as defined in RFC2822 <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822>. The
    "from" value is sent as the "From" header in the requests.

    The default is to not send a "From" header. See "default_headers" in LWP::UserAgent for the more
    general interface that allow any header to be defaulted.

  local_address
        my $address = $ua->local_address;
        $ua->local_address( $address );

    Get/set the local interface to bind to for network connections. The interface can be specified
    as a hostname or an IP address. This value is passed as the "LocalAddr" argument to
    IO::Socket::INET.

  max_redirect
        my $max = $ua->max_redirect;
        $ua->max_redirect( $n );

    This reads or sets the object's limit of how many times it will obey redirection responses in a
    given request cycle.

    By default, the value is 7. This means that if you call "request" in LWP::UserAgent and the
    response is a redirect elsewhere which is in turn a redirect, and so on seven times, then LWP
    gives up after that seventh request.

  max_size
        my $size = $ua->max_size;
        $ua->max_size( $bytes );

    Get/set the size limit for response content. The default is "undef", which means that there is
    no limit. If the returned response content is only partial, because the size limit was exceeded,
    then a "Client-Aborted" header will be added to the response. The content might end up longer
    than "max_size" as we abort once appending a chunk of data makes the length exceed the limit.
    The "Content-Length" header, if present, will indicate the length of the full content and will
    normally not be the same as "length($res->content)".

  parse_head
        my $bool = $ua->parse_head;
        $ua->parse_head( $boolean );

    Get/set a value indicating whether we should initialize response headers from the <head> section
    of HTML documents. The default is true. *Do not turn this off* unless you know what you are
    doing.

  protocols_allowed
        my $aref = $ua->protocols_allowed;      # get allowed protocols
        $ua->protocols_allowed( \@protocols );  # allow ONLY these
        $ua->protocols_allowed(undef);          # delete the list
        $ua->protocols_allowed(['http',]);      # ONLY allow http

    By default, an object has neither a "protocols_allowed" list, nor a "protocols_forbidden" in
    LWP::UserAgent list.

    This reads (or sets) this user agent's list of protocols that the request methods will
    exclusively allow. The protocol names are case insensitive.

    For example: "$ua->protocols_allowed( [ 'http', 'https'] );" means that this user agent will
    *allow only* those protocols, and attempts to use this user agent to access URLs with any other
    schemes (like "ftp://...") will result in a 500 error.

    Note that having a "protocols_allowed" list causes any "protocols_forbidden" in LWP::UserAgent
    list to be ignored.

  protocols_forbidden
        my $aref = $ua->protocols_forbidden;    # get the forbidden list
        $ua->protocols_forbidden(\@protocols);  # do not allow these
        $ua->protocols_forbidden(['http',]);    # All http reqs get a 500
        $ua->protocols_forbidden(undef);        # delete the list

    This reads (or sets) this user agent's list of protocols that the request method will *not*
    allow. The protocol names are case insensitive.

    For example: "$ua->protocols_forbidden( [ 'file', 'mailto'] );" means that this user agent will
    *not* allow those protocols, and attempts to use this user agent to access URLs with those
    schemes will result in a 500 error.

  requests_redirectable
        my $aref = $ua->requests_redirectable;
        $ua->requests_redirectable( \@requests );
        $ua->requests_redirectable(['GET', 'HEAD',]); # the default

    This reads or sets the object's list of request names that "redirect_ok" in LWP::UserAgent will
    allow redirection for. By default, this is "['GET', 'HEAD']", as per RFC 2616
    <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616>. To change to include "POST", consider:

       push @{ $ua->requests_redirectable }, 'POST';

  send_te
        my $bool = $ua->send_te;
        $ua->send_te( $boolean );

    If true, will send a "TE" header along with the request. The default is true. Set it to false to
    disable the "TE" header for systems who can't handle it.

  show_progress
        my $bool = $ua->show_progress;
        $ua->show_progress( $boolean );

    Get/set a value indicating whether a progress bar should be displayed on the terminal as
    requests are processed. The default is false.

  ssl_opts
        my @keys = $ua->ssl_opts;
        my $val = $ua->ssl_opts( $key );
        $ua->ssl_opts( $key => $value );

    Get/set the options for SSL connections. Without argument return the list of options keys
    currently set. With a single argument return the current value for the given option. With 2
    arguments set the option value and return the old. Setting an option to the value "undef"
    removes this option.

    The options that LWP relates to are:

    "verify_hostname" => $bool
        When TRUE LWP will for secure protocol schemes ensure it connects to servers that have a
        valid certificate matching the expected hostname. If FALSE no checks are made and you can't
        be sure that you communicate with the expected peer. The no checks behaviour was the default
        for libwww-perl-5.837 and earlier releases.

        This option is initialized from the "PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME" environment variable. If
        this environment variable isn't set; then "verify_hostname" defaults to 1.

    "SSL_ca_file" => $path
        The path to a file containing Certificate Authority certificates. A default setting for this
        option is provided by checking the environment variables "PERL_LWP_SSL_CA_FILE" and
        "HTTPS_CA_FILE" in order.

    "SSL_ca_path" => $path
        The path to a directory containing files containing Certificate Authority certificates. A
        default setting for this option is provided by checking the environment variables
        "PERL_LWP_SSL_CA_PATH" and "HTTPS_CA_DIR" in order.

    Other options can be set and are processed directly by the SSL Socket implementation in use. See
    IO::Socket::SSL or Net::SSL for details.

    The libwww-perl core no longer bundles protocol plugins for SSL. You will need to install
    LWP::Protocol::https separately to enable support for processing https-URLs.

  timeout
        my $secs = $ua->timeout;
        $ua->timeout( $secs );

    Get/set the timeout value in seconds. The default value is 180 seconds, i.e. 3 minutes.

    The request is aborted if no activity on the connection to the server is observed for "timeout"
    seconds. This means that the time it takes for the complete transaction and the "request" in
    LWP::UserAgent method to actually return might be longer.

    When a request times out, a response object is still returned. The response will have a standard
    HTTP Status Code (500). This response will have the "Client-Warning" header set to the value of
    "Internal response". See the "get" in LWP::UserAgent method description below for further
    details.

PROXY ATTRIBUTES
    The following methods set up when requests should be passed via a proxy server.

  env_proxy
        $ua->env_proxy;

    Load proxy settings from *_proxy environment variables. You might specify proxies like this
    (sh-syntax):

      gopher_proxy=http://proxy.my.place/
      wais_proxy=http://proxy.my.place/
      no_proxy="localhost,example.com"
      export gopher_proxy wais_proxy no_proxy

    csh or tcsh users should use the "setenv" command to define these environment variables.

    On systems with case insensitive environment variables there exists a name clash between the CGI
    environment variables and the "HTTP_PROXY" environment variable normally picked up by
    "env_proxy". Because of this "HTTP_PROXY" is not honored for CGI scripts. The "CGI_HTTP_PROXY"
    environment variable can be used instead.

  no_proxy
        $ua->no_proxy( @domains );
        $ua->no_proxy('localhost', 'example.com');
        $ua->no_proxy(); # clear the list

    Do not proxy requests to the given domains. Calling "no_proxy" without any domains clears the
    list of domains.

  proxy
        $ua->proxy(\@schemes, $proxy_url)
        $ua->proxy(['http', 'ftp'], 'http://proxy.sn.no:8001/');

        # For a single scheme:
        $ua->proxy($scheme, $proxy_url)
        $ua->proxy('gopher', 'http://proxy.sn.no:8001/');

        # To set multiple proxies at once:
        $ua->proxy([
            ftp => 'http://ftp.example.com:8001/',
            [ 'http', 'https' ] => 'http://http.example.com:8001/',
        ]);

    Set/retrieve proxy URL for a scheme.

    The first form specifies that the URL is to be used as a proxy for access methods listed in the
    list in the first method argument, i.e. "http" and "ftp".

    The second form shows a shorthand form for specifying proxy URL for a single access scheme.

    The third form demonstrates setting multiple proxies at once. This is also the only form
    accepted by the constructor.

HANDLERS
    Handlers are code that injected at various phases during the processing of requests. The
    following methods are provided to manage the active handlers:

  add_handler
        $ua->add_handler( $phase => \&cb, %matchspec )

    Add handler to be invoked in the given processing phase. For how to specify %matchspec see
    "Matching" in HTTP::Config.

    The possible values $phase and the corresponding callback signatures are as follows. Note that
    the handlers are documented in the order in which they will be run, which is:

        request_preprepare
        request_prepare
        request_send
        response_header
        response_data
        response_done
        response_redirect

    request_preprepare => sub { my($request, $ua, $handler) = @_; ... }
        The handler is called before the "request_prepare" and other standard initialization of the
        request. This can be used to set up headers and attributes that the "request_prepare"
        handler depends on. Proxy initialization should take place here; but in general don't
        register handlers for this phase.

    request_prepare => sub { my($request, $ua, $handler) = @_; ... }
        The handler is called before the request is sent and can modify the request any way it see
        fit. This can for instance be used to add certain headers to specific requests.

        The method can assign a new request object to $_[0] to replace the request that is sent
        fully.

        The return value from the callback is ignored. If an exception is raised it will abort the
        request and make the request method return a "400 Bad request" response.

    request_send => sub { my($request, $ua, $handler) = @_; ... }
        This handler gets a chance of handling requests before they're sent to the protocol
        handlers. It should return an HTTP::Response object if it wishes to terminate the
        processing; otherwise it should return nothing.

        The "response_header" and "response_data" handlers will not be invoked for this response,
        but the "response_done" will be.

    response_header => sub { my($response, $ua, $handler) = @_; ... }
        This handler is called right after the response headers have been received, but before any
        content data. The handler might set up handlers for data and might croak to abort the
        request.

        The handler might set the "$response->{default_add_content}" value to control if any
        received data should be added to the response object directly. This will initially be false
        if the "$ua->request()" method was called with a $content_file or "$content_cb argument";
        otherwise true.

    response_data => sub { my($response, $ua, $handler, $data) = @_; ... }
        This handler is called for each chunk of data received for the response. The handler might
        croak to abort the request.

        This handler needs to return a TRUE value to be called again for subsequent chunks for the
        same request.

    response_done => sub { my($response, $ua, $handler) = @_; ... }
        The handler is called after the response has been fully received, but before any redirect
        handling is attempted. The handler can be used to extract information or modify the
        response.

    response_redirect => sub { my($response, $ua, $handler) = @_; ... }
        The handler is called in "$ua->request" after "response_done". If the handler returns an
        HTTP::Request object we'll start over with processing this request instead.

    For all of these, $handler is a code reference to the handler that is currently being run.

  get_my_handler
        $ua->get_my_handler( $phase, %matchspec );
        $ua->get_my_handler( $phase, %matchspec, $init );

    Will retrieve the matching handler as hash ref.

    If $init is passed as a true value, create and add the handler if it's not found. If $init is a
    subroutine reference, then it's called with the created handler hash as argument. This sub might
    populate the hash with extra fields; especially the callback. If $init is a hash reference,
    merge the hashes.

  handlers
        $ua->handlers( $phase, $request )
        $ua->handlers( $phase, $response )

    Returns the handlers that apply to the given request or response at the given processing phase.

  remove_handler
        $ua->remove_handler( undef, %matchspec );
        $ua->remove_handler( $phase, %matchspec );
        $ua->remove_handler(); # REMOVE ALL HANDLERS IN ALL PHASES

    Remove handlers that match the given %matchspec. If $phase is not provided, remove handlers from
    all phases.

    Be careful as calling this function with %matchspec that is not specific enough can remove
    handlers not owned by you. It's probably better to use the "set_my_handler" in LWP::UserAgent
    method instead.

    The removed handlers are returned.

  set_my_handler
        $ua->set_my_handler( $phase, $cb, %matchspec );
        $ua->set_my_handler($phase, undef); # remove handler for phase

    Set handlers private to the executing subroutine. Works by defaulting an "owner" field to the
    %matchspec that holds the name of the called subroutine. You might pass an explicit "owner" to
    override this.

    If $cb is passed as "undef", remove the handler.

REQUEST METHODS
    The methods described in this section are used to dispatch requests via the user agent. The
    following request methods are provided:

  delete
        my $res = $ua->delete( $url );
        my $res = $ua->delete( $url, $field_name => $value, ... );

    This method will dispatch a "DELETE" request on the given URL. Additional headers and content
    options are the same as for the "get" in LWP::UserAgent method.

    This method will use the "DELETE()" function from HTTP::Request::Common to build the request.
    See HTTP::Request::Common for a details on how to pass form content and other advanced features.

  get
        my $res = $ua->get( $url );
        my $res = $ua->get( $url , $field_name => $value, ... );

    This method will dispatch a "GET" request on the given URL. Further arguments can be given to
    initialize the headers of the request. These are given as separate name/value pairs. The return
    value is a response object. See HTTP::Response for a description of the interface it provides.

    There will still be a response object returned when LWP can't connect to the server specified in
    the URL or when other failures in protocol handlers occur. These internal responses use the
    standard HTTP status codes, so the responses can't be differentiated by testing the response
    status code alone. Error responses that LWP generates internally will have the "Client-Warning"
    header set to the value "Internal response". If you need to differentiate these internal
    responses from responses that a remote server actually generates, you need to test this header
    value.

    Fields names that start with ":" are special. These will not initialize headers of the request
    but will determine how the response content is treated. The following special field names are
    recognized:

        ':content_file'   => $filename
        ':content_cb'     => \&callback
        ':read_size_hint' => $bytes

    If a $filename is provided with the ":content_file" option, then the response content will be
    saved here instead of in the response object. If a callback is provided with the ":content_cb"
    option then this function will be called for each chunk of the response content as it is
    received from the server. If neither of these options are given, then the response content will
    accumulate in the response object itself. This might not be suitable for very large response
    bodies. Only one of ":content_file" or ":content_cb" can be specified. The content of
    unsuccessful responses will always accumulate in the response object itself, regardless of the
    ":content_file" or ":content_cb" options passed in. Note that errors writing to the content file
    (for example due to permission denied or the filesystem being full) will be reported via the
    "Client-Aborted" or "X-Died" response headers, and not the "is_success" method.

    The ":read_size_hint" option is passed to the protocol module which will try to read data from
    the server in chunks of this size. A smaller value for the ":read_size_hint" will result in a
    higher number of callback invocations.

    The callback function is called with 3 arguments: a chunk of data, a reference to the response
    object, and a reference to the protocol object. The callback can abort the request by invoking
    "die()". The exception message will show up as the "X-Died" header field in the response
    returned by the "$ua->get()" method.

  head
        my $res = $ua->head( $url );
        my $res = $ua->head( $url , $field_name => $value, ... );

    This method will dispatch a "HEAD" request on the given URL. Otherwise it works like the "get"
    in LWP::UserAgent method described above.

  is_protocol_supported
        my $bool = $ua->is_protocol_supported( $scheme );

    You can use this method to test whether this user agent object supports the specified "scheme".
    (The "scheme" might be a string (like "http" or "ftp") or it might be an URI object reference.)

    Whether a scheme is supported is determined by the user agent's "protocols_allowed" or
    "protocols_forbidden" lists (if any), and by the capabilities of LWP. I.e., this will return
    true only if LWP supports this protocol *and* it's permitted for this particular object.

  is_online
        my $bool = $ua->is_online;

    Tries to determine if you have access to the Internet. Returns 1 (true) if the built-in
    heuristics determine that the user agent is able to access the Internet (over HTTP) or 0
    (false).

    See also LWP::Online.

  mirror
        my $res = $ua->mirror( $url, $filename );

    This method will get the document identified by URL and store it in file called $filename. If
    the file already exists, then the request will contain an "If-Modified-Since" header matching
    the modification time of the file. If the document on the server has not changed since this
    time, then nothing happens. If the document has been updated, it will be downloaded again. The
    modification time of the file will be forced to match that of the server.

    Uses "move" in File::Copy to attempt to atomically replace the $filename.

    The return value is an HTTP::Response object.

  patch
        # Any version of HTTP::Message works with this form:
        my $res = $ua->patch( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => $content );

        # Using hash or array references requires HTTP::Message >= 6.12
        use HTTP::Request 6.12;
        my $res = $ua->patch( $url, \%form );
        my $res = $ua->patch( $url, \@form );
        my $res = $ua->patch( $url, \%form, $field_name => $value, ... );
        my $res = $ua->patch( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => \%form );
        my $res = $ua->patch( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => \@form );

    This method will dispatch a "PATCH" request on the given URL, with %form or @form providing the
    key/value pairs for the fill-in form content. Additional headers and content options are the
    same as for the "get" in LWP::UserAgent method.

    CAVEAT:

    This method can only accept content that is in key-value pairs when using HTTP::Request::Common
    prior to version 6.12. Any use of hash or array references will result in an error prior to
    version 6.12.

    This method will use the "PATCH" function from HTTP::Request::Common to build the request. See
    HTTP::Request::Common for a details on how to pass form content and other advanced features.

  post
        my $res = $ua->post( $url, \%form );
        my $res = $ua->post( $url, \@form );
        my $res = $ua->post( $url, \%form, $field_name => $value, ... );
        my $res = $ua->post( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => \%form );
        my $res = $ua->post( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => \@form );
        my $res = $ua->post( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => $content );

    This method will dispatch a "POST" request on the given URL, with %form or @form providing the
    key/value pairs for the fill-in form content. Additional headers and content options are the
    same as for the "get" in LWP::UserAgent method.

    This method will use the "POST" function from HTTP::Request::Common to build the request. See
    HTTP::Request::Common for a details on how to pass form content and other advanced features.

  put
        # Any version of HTTP::Message works with this form:
        my $res = $ua->put( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => $content );

        # Using hash or array references requires HTTP::Message >= 6.07
        use HTTP::Request 6.07;
        my $res = $ua->put( $url, \%form );
        my $res = $ua->put( $url, \@form );
        my $res = $ua->put( $url, \%form, $field_name => $value, ... );
        my $res = $ua->put( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => \%form );
        my $res = $ua->put( $url, $field_name => $value, Content => \@form );

    This method will dispatch a "PUT" request on the given URL, with %form or @form providing the
    key/value pairs for the fill-in form content. Additional headers and content options are the
    same as for the "get" in LWP::UserAgent method.

    CAVEAT:

    This method can only accept content that is in key-value pairs when using HTTP::Request::Common
    prior to version 6.07. Any use of hash or array references will result in an error prior to
    version 6.07.

    This method will use the "PUT" function from HTTP::Request::Common to build the request. See
    HTTP::Request::Common for a details on how to pass form content and other advanced features.

  request
        my $res = $ua->request( $request );
        my $res = $ua->request( $request, $content_file );
        my $res = $ua->request( $request, $content_cb );
        my $res = $ua->request( $request, $content_cb, $read_size_hint );

    This method will dispatch the given $request object. Normally this will be an instance of the
    HTTP::Request class, but any object with a similar interface will do. The return value is an
    HTTP::Response object.

    The "request" method will process redirects and authentication responses transparently. This
    means that it may actually send several simple requests via the "simple_request" in
    LWP::UserAgent method described below.

    The request methods described above; "get" in LWP::UserAgent, "head" in LWP::UserAgent, "post"
    in LWP::UserAgent and "mirror" in LWP::UserAgent will all dispatch the request they build via
    this method. They are convenience methods that simply hide the creation of the request object
    for you.

    The $content_file, $content_cb and $read_size_hint all correspond to options described with the
    "get" in LWP::UserAgent method above. Note that errors writing to the content file (for example
    due to permission denied or the filesystem being full) will be reported via the "Client-Aborted"
    or "X-Died" response headers, and not the "is_success" method.

    You are allowed to use a CODE reference as "content" in the request object passed in. The
    "content" function should return the content when called. The content can be returned in chunks.
    The content function will be invoked repeatedly until it return an empty string to signal that
    there is no more content.

  simple_request
        my $request = HTTP::Request->new( ... );
        my $res = $ua->simple_request( $request );
        my $res = $ua->simple_request( $request, $content_file );
        my $res = $ua->simple_request( $request, $content_cb );
        my $res = $ua->simple_request( $request, $content_cb, $read_size_hint );

    This method dispatches a single request and returns the response received. Arguments are the
    same as for the "request" in LWP::UserAgent described above.

    The difference from "request" in LWP::UserAgent is that "simple_request" will not try to handle
    redirects or authentication responses. The "request" in LWP::UserAgent method will, in fact,
    invoke this method for each simple request it sends.

CALLBACK METHODS
    The following methods will be invoked as requests are processed. These methods are documented
    here because subclasses of LWP::UserAgent might want to override their behaviour.

  get_basic_credentials
        # This checks wantarray and can either return an array:
        my ($user, $pass) = $ua->get_basic_credentials( $realm, $uri, $isproxy );
        # or a string that looks like "user:pass"
        my $creds = $ua->get_basic_credentials($realm, $uri, $isproxy);

    This is called by "request" in LWP::UserAgent to retrieve credentials for documents protected by
    Basic or Digest Authentication. The arguments passed in is the $realm provided by the server,
    the $uri requested and a "boolean flag" to indicate if this is authentication against a proxy
    server.

    The method should return a username and password. It should return an empty list to abort the
    authentication resolution attempt. Subclasses can override this method to prompt the user for
    the information. An example of this can be found in "lwp-request" program distributed with this
    library.

    The base implementation simply checks a set of pre-stored member variables, set up with the
    "credentials" in LWP::UserAgent method.

  prepare_request
        $request = $ua->prepare_request( $request );

    This method is invoked by "simple_request" in LWP::UserAgent. Its task is to modify the given
    $request object by setting up various headers based on the attributes of the user agent. The
    return value should normally be the $request object passed in. If a different request object is
    returned it will be the one actually processed.

    The headers affected by the base implementation are; "User-Agent", "From", "Range" and "Cookie".

  progress
        my $prog = $ua->progress( $status, $request_or_response );

    This is called frequently as the response is received regardless of how the content is
    processed. The method is called with $status "begin" at the start of processing the request and
    with $state "end" before the request method returns. In between these $status will be the
    fraction of the response currently received or the string "tick" if the fraction can't be
    calculated.

    When $status is "begin" the second argument is the HTTP::Request object, otherwise it is the
    HTTP::Response object.

  redirect_ok
        my $bool = $ua->redirect_ok( $prospective_request, $response );

    This method is called by "request" in LWP::UserAgent before it tries to follow a redirection to
    the request in $response. This should return a true value if this redirection is permissible.
    The $prospective_request will be the request to be sent if this method returns true.

    The base implementation will return false unless the method is in the object's
    "requests_redirectable" list, false if the proposed redirection is to a "file://..." URL, and
    true otherwise.

BEST PRACTICES
    The default settings can get you up and running quickly, but there are settings you can change
    in order to make your life easier.

  Handling Cookies
    You are encouraged to install Mozilla::PublicSuffix and use HTTP::CookieJar::LWP as your cookie
    jar. HTTP::CookieJar::LWP provides a better security model matching that of current Web browsers
    when Mozilla::PublicSuffix is installed.

        use HTTP::CookieJar::LWP ();

        my $jar = HTTP::CookieJar::LWP->new;
        my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( cookie_jar => $jar );

    See "cookie_jar" for more information.

  Managing Protocols
    "protocols_allowed" gives you the ability to allow arbitrary protocols.

        my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new(
            protocols_allowed => [ 'http', 'https' ]
        );

    This will prevent you from inadvertently following URLs like "file:///etc/passwd". See
    "protocols_allowed".

    "protocols_forbidden" gives you the ability to deny arbitrary protocols.

        my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new(
            protocols_forbidden => [ 'file', 'mailto', 'ssh', ]
        );

    This can also prevent you from inadvertently following URLs like "file:///etc/passwd". See
    "protocols_forbidden".

SEE ALSO
    See LWP for a complete overview of libwww-perl5. See lwpcook and the scripts lwp-request and
    lwp-download for examples of usage.

    See HTTP::Request and HTTP::Response for a description of the message objects dispatched and
    received. See HTTP::Request::Common and HTML::Form for other ways to build request objects.

    See WWW::Mechanize and WWW::Search for examples of more specialized user agents based on
    LWP::UserAgent.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    Copyright 1995-2009 Gisle Aas.

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

LWP::UserAgent
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION CONSTRUCTOR METHODS ATTRIBUTES PROXY ATTRIBUTES HANDLERS REQUEST METHODS CALLBACK METHODS BEST PRACTICES
Handling Cookies Managing Protocols
SEE ALSO COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

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