Open web-adress as filehandle

Lowry has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi Monks,

I'm seeking your wisdom. I'm looking for a way to open a file on the web without having to store it locally and use it similar to a filehandle.

E.g. something like (pseudo-code)

use WWW::Mechanize;
my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
$mech->get($url);
my $file_content = $mech->content()

while(<$file_content>){
   # do something
}
[download]

As far as I know mechanize dies when the file isn't an html file. Additionally, I'm not sure if I can use the string returned in a filehandle way

Please enlighten me, someone.
Lowry

Comment on Open web-adress as filehandle Download Code

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Re: Open web address as filehandle
by Athanasius (Archbishop) on Aug 18, 2014 at 06:44 UTC

Hello Lowry, and welcome to the Monastery!

Have you looked at the module Tie::FTP?

Hope that helps,

Athanasius <°(((>< contra mundum Iustus alius egestas vitae, eros Piratica,

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Re^2: Open web address as filehandle

by Lowry (Initiate) on Aug 18, 2014 at 06:53 UTC

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Re^2: Open web address as filehandle

by Bloodnok (Vicar) on Aug 18, 2014 at 16:53 UTC

Athanasius

A user level that continues to overstate my experience :-))

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Re: Open web-adress as filehandle
by Corion (Patriarch) on Aug 18, 2014 at 06:52 UTC

Why would WWW::Mechanize die if the file doesn't have HTML content?

Maybe you want to show an example that actually demonstrates this?

For treating a scalar as a filehandle, see open on "in-memory filehandles".

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Re^2: Open web-adress as filehandle

by Lowry (Initiate) on Aug 18, 2014 at 06:57 UTC

Sorry, you are right. It only dies if I try to get the content as text. Raw content shouldn't be a problem.
And thanks for the "in-memory FH" hint. Will definitely look at it.

Lowry

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Re: Open web-adress as filehandle
by LanX (Saint) on Aug 18, 2014 at 08:19 UTC

> open a file on the web .... mechanize ...

As a side note, mechanize seems overkill for that task.

While not strictly core, LWP::Simple should be on most systems as dependency of the cpan client (well IMHO I didn't check yet°)

So just get("url") the $content and then open the reference \$content to a filehandle.

Cheers Rolf

_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language and ☆☆☆☆ :)}

°) I'm not sure anymore about the most basic "fetch from Web" mechanism of cpan-client, but LWP was one of the options my system used...

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Re: Open web-adress as filehandle
by thomas895 (Deacon) on Aug 18, 2014 at 06:50 UTC

$mech->content() returns a string.

I know of only two ways to do this: an unlink'd temporary file and a FIFO(SysV IPC, but then to yourself).

An unlink'd temporary file. See File::Temp.
A FIFO. See IPC::SysV and Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment by W. Richard Stevens, Chapter 14.5-14.9. (ISBN 0201563177)

-Thomas

"Excuse me for butting in, but I'm interrupt-driven..."

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