# NAME

WWW::Mechanize - Handy web browsing in a Perl object

# VERSION

version 2.22

# SYNOPSIS

WWW::Mechanize supports performing a sequence of page fetches including following links and
submitting forms. Each fetched page is parsed and its links and forms are extracted. A link or a
form can be selected, form fields can be filled and the next page can be fetched. Mech also stores
a history of the URLs you've visited, which can be queried and revisited.

    use WWW::Mechanize ();
    my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();

    $mech->get( $url );

    $mech->follow_link( n => 3 );
    $mech->follow_link( text_regex => qr/download this/i );
    $mech->follow_link( url => 'http://host.com/index.html' );

    $mech->submit_form(
        form_number => 3,
        fields      => {
            username    => 'mungo',
            password    => 'lost-and-alone',
        }
    );

    $mech->submit_form(
        form_name => 'search',
        fields    => { query  => 'pot of gold', },
        button    => 'Search Now'
    );

    # Enable strict form processing to catch typos and non-existent form fields.
    my $strict_mech = WWW::Mechanize->new( strict_forms => 1);

    $strict_mech->get( $url );

    # This method call will die, saving you lots of time looking for the bug.
    $strict_mech->submit_form(
        form_number => 3,
        fields      => {
            usernaem     => 'mungo',           # typo in field name
            password     => 'lost-and-alone',
            extra_field  => 123,               # field does not exist
        }
    );

# DESCRIPTION

`WWW::Mechanize`, or Mech for short, is a Perl module for stateful programmatic web browsing, used
for automating interaction with websites.

Features include:

- All HTTP methods
- High-level hyperlink and HTML form support, without having to parse HTML yourself
- SSL support
- Automatic cookies
- Custom HTTP headers
- Automatic handling of redirections
- Proxies
- HTTP authentication

Mech is well suited for use in testing web applications.  If you use one of the Test::\*, like
[Test::HTML::Lint](https://metacpan.org/pod/Test%3A%3AHTML%3A%3ALint) modules, you can check the fetched content and use that as input to a test
call.

    use Test::More;
    like( $mech->content(), qr/$expected/, "Got expected content" );

Each page fetch stores its URL in a history stack which you can traverse.

    $mech->back();

If you want finer control over your page fetching, you can use these methods. `[follow_link()](#mech-follow_link)` and `[submit_form()](#mech-submit_form)` are just high level wrappers around them.

    $mech->find_link( n => $number );
    $mech->form_number( $number );
    $mech->form_name( $name );
    $mech->field( $name, $value );
    $mech->set_fields( %field_values );
    $mech->set_visible( @criteria );
    $mech->click( $button );

[WWW::Mechanize](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize) is a proper subclass of [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent) and you can also use any of
[LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent)'s methods.

    $mech->add_header($name => $value);

Please note that Mech does NOT support JavaScript, you need additional software for that. Please
check ["JavaScript" in WWW::Mechanize::FAQ](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AFAQ#JavaScript) for more.

# IMPORTANT LINKS

- [https://github.com/libwww-perl/WWW-Mechanize/issues](https://github.com/libwww-perl/WWW-Mechanize/issues)

    The queue for bugs & enhancements in WWW::Mechanize.  Please note that the queue at
    [http://rt.cpan.org](http://rt.cpan.org) is no longer maintained.

- [https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW::Mechanize](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW::Mechanize)

    The CPAN documentation page for Mechanize.

- [https://metacpan.org/pod/distribution/WWW-Mechanize/lib/WWW/Mechanize/FAQ.pod](https://metacpan.org/pod/distribution/WWW-Mechanize/lib/WWW/Mechanize/FAQ.pod)

    Frequently asked questions.  Make sure you read here FIRST.

# INSTALLATION

## Packaged for Different Operating Systems

WWW-Mechanize is readily packaged for several Linux distributions. The operating system packages
are maintained and updated when WWW-Mechanize is released. Please check for your own OS at the
bottom of this page.

## Manual Installation

    cpan install WWW::Mechanize
    # or
    cpanm WWW::Mechanize

# CONSTRUCTOR AND STARTUP

## new()

Creates and returns a new WWW::Mechanize object, hereafter referred to as the "agent".

    my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new()

The constructor for WWW::Mechanize overrides two of the params to the LWP::UserAgent constructor:

    agent => 'WWW-Mechanize/#.##'
    cookie_jar => {}    # an empty, memory-only HTTP::Cookies object

You can override these overrides by passing params to the constructor, as in:

    my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new( agent => 'wonderbot 1.01' );

If you want none of the overhead of a cookie jar, or don't want your bot accepting cookies, you
have to explicitly disallow it, like so:

    my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new( cookie_jar => undef );

Here are the params that WWW::Mechanize recognizes.  These do not include params that
[LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent) recognizes.

- `autocheck => [0|1]`

    Checks each request made to see if it was successful.  This saves you the trouble of manually
    checking yourself.  Any errors found are errors, not warnings.

    The default value is ON, unless it's being subclassed, in which case it is OFF.  This means that
    standalone [WWW::Mechanize](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize) instances have autocheck turned on, which is protective for the vast
    majority of Mech users who don't bother checking the return value of `[get()](#mech-get-uri)` and `[post()](#mech-post-uri-content-content)` and can't figure why their
    code fails. However, if [WWW::Mechanize](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize) is subclassed, such as for [Test::WWW::Mechanize](https://metacpan.org/pod/Test%3A%3AWWW%3A%3AMechanize) or
    [Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst](https://metacpan.org/pod/Test%3A%3AWWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ACatalyst), this may not be an appropriate default, so it's off.

- `noproxy => [0|1]`

    Turn off the automatic call to the [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent) `env_proxy` function.

    This needs to be explicitly turned off if you're using [Crypt::SSLeay](https://metacpan.org/pod/Crypt%3A%3ASSLeay) to access a https site via
    a proxy server.  Note: you still need to set your HTTPS\_PROXY environment variable as appropriate.

- `onwarn => \&func`

    Reference to a `warn`-compatible function, such as `[Carp](https://metacpan.org/pod/Carp)::carp`, that is called when a
    warning needs to be shown.

    If this is set to `undef`, no warnings will ever be shown.  However, it's probably better to use
    the `quiet` method to control that behavior.

    If this value is not passed, Mech uses `Carp::carp` if [Carp](https://metacpan.org/pod/Carp) is installed, or `CORE::warn` if
    not.

- `onerror => \&func`

    Reference to a `die`-compatible function, such as `[Carp](https://metacpan.org/pod/Carp)::croak`, that is called when
    there's a fatal error.

    If this is set to `undef`, no errors will ever be shown.

    If this value is not passed, Mech uses `Carp::croak` if [Carp](https://metacpan.org/pod/Carp) is installed, or `CORE::die` if
    not.

- `quiet => [0|1]`

    Don't complain on warnings.  Setting `quiet => 1` is the same as calling `$mech->quiet(1)`.  Default is off.

- `stack_depth => $value`

    Sets the depth of the page stack that keeps track of all the downloaded pages. Default is
    effectively infinite stack size.  If the stack is eating up your memory, then set this to a smaller
    number, say 5 or 10.  Setting this to zero means Mech will keep no history.

In addition, WWW::Mechanize also allows you to globally enable strict and verbose mode for form
handling, which is done with [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm).

- `strict_forms => [0|1]`

    Globally sets the HTML::Form strict flag which causes form submission to croak if any of the passed
    fields don't exist in the form, and/or a value doesn't exist in a select element. This can still be
    disabled in individual calls to `[submit_form()](#mech-submit_form)`.

    Default is off.

- `verbose_forms => [0|1]`

    Globally sets the HTML::Form verbose flag which causes form submission to warn about any bad HTML
    form constructs found. This cannot be disabled later.

    Default is off.

- `marked_sections => [0|1]`

    Globally sets the HTML::Parser marked sections flag which causes HTML `CDATA[[` sections to be
    honoured. This cannot be disabled later.

    Default is on.

To support forms, WWW::Mechanize's constructor pushes POST on to the agent's
`requests_redirectable` list (see also [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).)

## $mech->agent\_alias( $alias )

Sets the user agent string to the expanded version from a table of actual user strings. `$alias`
can be one of the following:

- Windows IE 6
- Windows Mozilla
- Mac Safari
- Mac Mozilla
- Linux Mozilla
- Linux Konqueror

then it will be replaced with a more interesting one.  For instance,

    $mech->agent_alias( 'Windows IE 6' );

sets your User-Agent to

    Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)

The list of valid aliases can be returned from `[known_agent_aliases()](#mech-known_agent_aliases)`. The current list is:

- Windows IE 6
- Windows Mozilla
- Mac Safari
- Mac Mozilla
- Linux Mozilla
- Linux Konqueror

## $mech->known\_agent\_aliases()

Returns a list of all the agent aliases that Mech knows about. This can also be called as a package
or class method.

    @aliases = WWW::Mechanize::known_agent_aliases();
    @aliases = WWW::Mechanize->known_agent_aliases();
    @aliases = $mech->known_agent_aliases();

# PAGE-FETCHING METHODS

## $mech->get( $uri )

Given a URL/URI, fetches it.  Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object. `$uri` can be a well-formed URL
string, a [URI](https://metacpan.org/pod/URI) object, or a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object.

The results are stored internally in the agent object, but you don't know that.  Just use the
accessors listed below.  Poking at the internals is deprecated and subject to change in the future.

`get()` is a well-behaved overloaded version of the method in [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).  This lets you do
things like

    $mech->get( $uri, ':content_file' => $filename );

and you can rest assured that the params will get filtered down appropriately. See
["get" in LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent#get) for more details.

**NOTE:** The file in `:content_file` will contain the raw content of the response. If the response
content is encoded (e.g. gzip encoded), the file will be encoded as well. Use $mech->save\_content
if you need the decoded content.

**NOTE:** Because `:content_file` causes the page contents to be stored in a file instead of the
response object, some Mech functions that expect it to be there won't work as expected. Use with
caution.

Here is a non-complete list of methods that do not work as expected with `:content_file`: ` [forms()](#mech-forms) `, ` [current_form()](#mech-current_form) `, ` [links()](#mech-links) `, ` [title()](#mech-title) `, ` [content(...)](#mech-content) `, ` [text()](#mech-text) `, all [content-handling methods](#content-handling-methods), all [link methods](#link-methods),
all [image methods](#image-methods), all [form methods](#form-methods), all [field
methods](#field-methods), ` [save_content(...)](#mech-save_content-filename-opts) `, ` [dump_links(...)](#mech-dump_links-fh-absolute) `, ` [dump_images(...)](#mech-dump_images-fh-absolute) `, ` [dump_forms(...)](#mech-dump_forms-fh) `, ` [dump_text(...)](#mech-dump_text-fh) `

## $mech->post( $uri, content => $content )

POSTs `$content` to `$uri`.  Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object. `$uri` can be a well-formed
URI string, a [URI](https://metacpan.org/pod/URI) object, or a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object.

## $mech->put( $uri, content => $content )

PUTs `$content` to `$uri`.  Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object. `$uri` can be a well-formed URI
string, a [URI](https://metacpan.org/pod/URI) object, or a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object.

    my $res = $mech->put( $uri );
    my $res = $mech->put( $uri , $field_name => $value, ... );

## $mech->head ($uri )

Performs a HEAD request to `$uri`. Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object. `$uri` can be a
well-formed URI string, a [URI](https://metacpan.org/pod/URI) object, or a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object.

## $mech->delete ($uri )

Performs a DELETE request to `$uri`. Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object. `$uri` can be a
well-formed URI string, a [URI](https://metacpan.org/pod/URI) object, or a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object.

## $mech->reload()

Acts like the reload button in a browser: repeats the current request. The history (as per the [back()](#mech-back) method) is not altered.

Returns the [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object from the reload, or `undef` if there's no current request.

## $mech->back()

The equivalent of hitting the "back" button in a browser.  Returns to the previous page.  Won't go
back past the first page. (Really, what would it do if it could?)

Returns true if it could go back, or false if not.

## $mech->clear\_history()

This deletes all the history entries and returns true.

## $mech->history\_count()

This returns the number of items in the browser history.  This number _does_ include the most
recently made request.

## $mech->history($n)

This returns the _n_th item in history.  The 0th item is the most recent request and response,
which would be acted on by methods like `[find_link()](#mech-find_link)`. The 1st
item is the state you'd return to if you called `[back()](#mech-back)`.

The maximum useful value for `$n` is `$mech->history_count - 1`. Requests beyond that bound
will return `undef`.

History items are returned as hash references, in the form:

    { req => $http_request, res => $http_response }

# STATUS METHODS

## $mech->success()

Returns a boolean telling whether the last request was successful. If there hasn't been an
operation yet, returns false.

This is a convenience function that wraps `$mech->res->is_success`.

## $mech->uri()

Returns the current URI as a [URI](https://metacpan.org/pod/URI) object. This object stringifies to the URI itself.

## $mech->response() / $mech->res()

Return the current response as an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object.

Synonym for `$mech->response()`.

## $mech->status()

Returns the HTTP status code of the response.  This is a 3-digit number like 200 for OK, 404 for
not found, and so on.

## $mech->ct() / $mech->content\_type()

Returns the content type of the response.

## $mech->base()

Returns the base URI for the current response

## $mech->forms()

When called in a list context, returns a list of the forms found in the last fetched page. In a
scalar context, returns a reference to an array with those forms. The forms returned are all
[HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) objects.

## $mech->current\_form()

Returns the current form as an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object.

## $mech->links()

When called in a list context, returns a list of the links found in the last fetched page.  In a
scalar context it returns a reference to an array with those links.  Each link is a
[WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object.

## $mech->is\_html()

Returns true/false on whether our content is HTML, according to the HTTP headers.

## $mech->title()

Returns the contents of the `<TITLE>` tag, as parsed by [HTML::HeadParser](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AHeadParser).  Returns `undef`
if the content is not HTML.

## $mech->redirects()

Convenience method to get the [redirects](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse#r-redirects) from the most recent
[HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse).

Note that you can also use [is\_redirect](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse#r-is_redirect) to see if the most
recent response was a redirect like this.

    $mech->get($url);
    do_stuff() if $mech->res->is_redirect;

# CONTENT-HANDLING METHODS

## $mech->content(...)

Returns the content that the mech uses internally for the last page fetched. Ordinarily this is the
same as `$mech->response()->decoded_content()`, but this may differ for HTML documents if
`[update_html](#mech-update_html-html)` is overloaded (in which case the value passed
to the base-class implementation of same will be returned), and/or extra named arguments are passed
to `content()`:

- _$mech->content( format => 'text' )_

    Returns a text-only version of the page, with all HTML markup stripped. This feature requires
    [HTML::TreeBuilder](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3ATreeBuilder) version 5 or higher to be installed, or a fatal error will be thrown. This
    works only if the contents are HTML.

- _$mech->content( base\_href => \[$base\_href|undef\] )_

    Returns the HTML document, modified to contain a `<base href="$base_href">` mark-up in the
    header. `$base_href` is `$mech->base()` if not specified. This is handy to pass the HTML to
    e.g. [HTML::Display](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3ADisplay). This works only if the contents are HTML.

- _$mech->content( raw => 1 )_

    Returns `$self->response()->content()`, i.e. the raw contents from the response.

- _$mech->content( decoded\_by\_headers => 1 )_

    Returns the content after applying all `Content-Encoding` headers but with not additional
    mangling.

- _$mech->content( charset => $charset )_

    Returns `$self->response()->decoded_content(charset => $charset)` (see [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) for
    details).

To preserve backwards compatibility, additional parameters will be ignored unless none of `raw |
decoded_by_headers | charset` is specified and the text is HTML, in which case an error will be
triggered.

A fresh instance of WWW::Mechanize will return `undef` when `$mech->content()` is called,
because no content is present before a request has been made.

## $mech->text()

Returns the text of the current HTML content.  If the content isn't HTML, `$mech` will die.

The text is extracted by parsing the content, and then the extracted text is cached, so don't worry
about performance of calling this repeatedly.

# LINK METHODS

## $mech->links()

Lists all the links on the current page.  Each link is a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object. In list
context, returns a list of all links.  In scalar context, returns an array reference of all links.

## $mech->follow\_link(...)

Follows a specified link on the page.  You specify the match to be found using the same params that
`[find_link()](#mech-find_link)` uses.

Here some examples:

- 3rd link called "download"

        $mech->follow_link( text => 'download', n => 3 );

- first link where the URL has "download" in it, regardless of case:

        $mech->follow_link( url_regex => qr/download/i );

    or

        $mech->follow_link( url_regex => qr/(?i:download)/ );

- 3rd link on the page

        $mech->follow_link( n => 3 );

- the link with the url

        $mech->follow_link( url => '/other/page' );

    or

        $mech->follow_link( url => 'http://example.com/page' );

Returns the result of the `GET` method (an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object) if a link was found.

If the page has no links, or the specified link couldn't be found, returns `undef`.  If
`autocheck` is enabled an exception will be thrown instead.

## $mech->find\_link( ... )

Finds a link in the currently fetched page. It returns a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object which
describes the link.  (You'll probably be most interested in the `[url()](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink#link-url)` property.) If it fails to find a link it returns
`undef`.

You can take the URL part and pass it to the `get()` method.  If that's your plan, you might as
well use the `[follow_link()](#mech-follow_link)` method directly, since it does the
`get()` for you automatically.

Note that `<FRAME SRC="...">` tags are parsed out of the HTML and treated as links so this
method works with them.

You can select which link to find by passing in one or more of these key/value pairs:

- `text => 'string',` and `text_regex => qr/regex/,`

    `text` matches the text of the link against _string_, which must be an exact match.  To select a
    link with text that is exactly "download", use

        $mech->find_link( text => 'download' );

    `text_regex` matches the text of the link against _regex_.  To select a link with text that has
    "download" anywhere in it, regardless of case, use

        $mech->find_link( text_regex => qr/download/i );

    Note that the text extracted from the page's links are trimmed.  For example, `<a> foo </a>`
    is stored as 'foo', and searching for leading or trailing spaces will fail.

- `url => 'string',` and `url_regex => qr/regex/,`

    Matches the URL of the link against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate. The URL may be a
    relative URL, like `foo/bar.html`, depending on how it's coded on the page.

- `url_abs => string` and `url_abs_regex => regex`

    Matches the absolute URL of the link against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate.  The URL will
    be an absolute URL, even if it's relative in the page.

- `name => string` and `name_regex => regex`

    Matches the name of the link against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate.

- `rel => string` and `rel_regex => regex`

    Matches the rel of the link against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate. This can be used to find
    stylesheets, favicons, or links the author of the page does not want bots to follow.

- `id => string` and `id_regex => regex`

    Matches the attribute 'id' of the link against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate.

- `class => string` and `class_regex => regex`

    Matches the attribute 'class' of the link against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate.

- `tag => string` and `tag_regex => regex`

    Matches the tag that the link came from against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate.  The
    `tag_regex` is probably most useful to check for more than one tag, as in:

        $mech->find_link( tag_regex => qr/^(a|frame)$/ );

    The tags and attributes looked at are defined below.

If `n` is not specified, it defaults to 1.  Therefore, if you don't specify any params, this
method defaults to finding the first link on the page.

Note that you can specify multiple text or URL parameters, which will be ANDed together.  For
example, to find the first link with text of "News" and with "cnn.com" in the URL, use:

    $mech->find_link( text => 'News', url_regex => qr/cnn\.com/ );

The return value is a reference to an array containing a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object for every
link in `[$self->content](#mech-content)`.

The links come from the following:

- `<a href=...>`
- `<area href=...>`
- `<frame src=...>`
- `<iframe src=...>`
- `<link href=...>`
- `<meta content=...>`

## $mech->find\_all\_links( ... )

Returns all the links on the current page that match the criteria.  The method for specifying link
criteria is the same as in `[find_link()](#mech-find_link)`. Each of the links
returned is a [WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) object.

In list context, `find_all_links()` returns a list of the links. Otherwise, it returns a reference
to the list of links.

`find_all_links()` with no parameters returns all links in the page.

## $mech->find\_all\_inputs( ... criteria ... )

`find_all_inputs()` returns an array of all the input controls in the current form whose
properties match all of the regexes passed in. The controls returned are all descended from
HTML::Form::Input. See ["INPUTS" in HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm#INPUTS) for details.

If no criteria are passed, all inputs will be returned.

If there is no current page, there is no form on the current page, or there are no submit controls
in the current form then the return will be an empty array.

You may use a regex or a literal string:

    # get all textarea controls whose names begin with "customer"
    my @customer_text_inputs = $mech->find_all_inputs(
        type       => 'textarea',
        name_regex => qr/^customer/,
    );

    # get all text or textarea controls called "customer"
    my @customer_text_inputs = $mech->find_all_inputs(
        type_regex => qr/^(text|textarea)$/,
        name       => 'customer',
    );

## $mech->find\_all\_submits( ... criteria ... )

`find_all_submits()` does the same thing as `[find_all_inputs()](#mech-find_all_inputs-criteria)` except that it only returns controls that are submit controls, ignoring other
types of input controls like text and checkboxes.

# IMAGE METHODS

## $mech->images

Lists all the images on the current page.  Each image is a [WWW::Mechanize::Image](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AImage) object. In list
context, returns a list of all images.  In scalar context, returns an array reference of all
images.

## $mech->find\_image()

Finds an image in the current page. It returns a [WWW::Mechanize::Image](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AImage) object which describes
the image.  If it fails to find an image it returns `undef`.

You can select which image to find by passing in one or more of these key/value pairs:

- `alt => 'string'` and `alt_regex => qr/regex/`

    `alt` matches the ALT attribute of the image against _string_, which must be an exact match. To
    select a image with an ALT tag that is exactly "download", use

        $mech->find_image( alt => 'download' );

    `alt_regex` matches the ALT attribute of the image  against a regular expression.  To select an
    image with an ALT attribute that has "download" anywhere in it, regardless of case, use

        $mech->find_image( alt_regex => qr/download/i );

- `url => 'string'` and `url_regex => qr/regex/`

    Matches the URL of the image against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate. The URL may be a
    relative URL, like `foo/bar.html`, depending on how it's coded on the page.

- `url_abs => string` and `url_abs_regex => regex`

    Matches the absolute URL of the image against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate.  The URL will
    be an absolute URL, even if it's relative in the page.

- `tag => string` and `tag_regex => regex`

    Matches the tag that the image came from against _string_ or _regex_, as appropriate.  The
    `tag_regex` is probably most useful to check for more than one tag, as in:

        $mech->find_image( tag_regex => qr/^(img|input)$/ );

    The tags supported are `<img>` and `<input>`.

- `id => string` and `id_regex => regex`

    `id` matches the id attribute of the image against _string_, which must be an exact match. To
    select an image with the exact id "download-image", use

        $mech->find_image( id => 'download-image' );

    `id_regex` matches the id attribute of the image against a regular expression. To select the first
    image with an id that contains "download" anywhere in it, use

        $mech->find_image( id_regex => qr/download/ );

- `classs => string` and `class_regex => regex`

    `class` matches the class attribute of the image against _string_, which must be an exact match.
    To select an image with the exact class "img-fuid", use

        $mech->find_image( class => 'img-fluid' );

    To select an image with the class attribute "rounded float-left", use

        $mech->find_image( class => 'rounded float-left' );

    Note that the classes have to be matched as a complete string, in the exact order they appear in
    the website's source code.

    `class_regex` matches the class attribute of the image against a regular expression. Use this if
    you want a partial class name, or if an image has several classes, but you only care about one.

    To select the first image with the class "rounded", where there are multiple images that might also
    have either class "float-left" or "float-right", use

        $mech->find_image( class_regex => qr/\brounded\b/ );

    Selecting an image with multiple classes where you do not care about the order they appear in the
    website's source code is not currently supported.

If `n` is not specified, it defaults to 1.  Therefore, if you don't specify any params, this
method defaults to finding the first image on the page.

Note that you can specify multiple ALT or URL parameters, which will be ANDed together.  For
example, to find the first image with ALT text of "News" and with "cnn.com" in the URL, use:

    $mech->find_image( image => 'News', url_regex => qr/cnn\.com/ );

The return value is a reference to an array containing a [WWW::Mechanize::Image](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AImage) object for every
image in `[$mech->content](#mech-content)`.

## $mech->find\_all\_images( ... )

Returns all the images on the current page that match the criteria.  The method for specifying
image criteria is the same as in `[find_image()](#mech-find_image)`. Each of the images
returned is a [WWW::Mechanize::Image](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AImage) object.

In list context, `find_all_images()` returns a list of the images. Otherwise, it returns a
reference to the list of images.

`find_all_images()` with no parameters returns all images in the page.

# FORM METHODS

These methods let you work with the forms on a page.  The idea is to choose a form that you'll
later work with using the field methods below.

## $mech->forms

Lists all the forms on the current page.  Each form is an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object.  In list context,
returns a list of all forms.  In scalar context, returns an array reference of all forms.

## $mech->form\_number($number)

Selects the _number_th form on the page as the target for subsequent calls to `[field()](#mech-field-name-value-number)` and `[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`. Also returns the form that was selected.

If it is found, the form is returned as an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object and set internally for later use
with Mech's form methods such as `[field()](#mech-field-name-value-number)` and
`[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`. When called in a list context, the number
of the found form is also returned as a second value.

Emits a warning and returns `undef` if no form is found.

The first form is number 1, not zero.

## $mech->form\_action( $action )

Selects a form by action, using a regex containing `$action`. If there is more than one form on
the page matching that action, then the first one is used, and a warning is generated.

If it is found, the form is returned as an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object and set internally for later use
with Mech's form methods such as `[field()](#mech-field-name-value-number)` and
`[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`.

Returns `undef` if no form is found.

## $mech->form\_name( $name \[, \\%args \] )

Selects a form by name.

By default, the first form that has this name will be returned.

    my $form = $mech->form_name("order_form");

If you want the second, third or nth match, pass an optional arguments hash reference as the final
parameter with a key `n` to pick which instance you want. The numbering starts at 1.

    my $third_product_form = $mech->form_name("buy_now", { n => 3 });

If the `n` parameter is not passed, and there is more than one form on the page with that name,
then the first one is used, and a warning is generated.

If it is found, the form is returned as an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object and set internally for later use
with Mech's form methods such as `[field()](#mech-field-name-value-number)` and
`[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`.

Returns `undef` if no form is found.

## $mech->form\_id( $id \[, \\%args \] )

Selects a form by ID.

By default, the first form that has this ID will be returned.

    my $form = $mech->form_id("order_form");

Although the HTML specification requires the ID to be unique within a page, some pages might not
adhere to that. If you want the second, third or nth match, pass an optional arguments hash
reference as the final parameter with a key `n` to pick which instance you want. The numbering
starts at 1.

    my $third_product_form = $mech->form_id("buy_now", { n => 3 });

If the `n` parameter is not passed, and there is more than one form on the page with that ID, then
the first one is used, and a warning is generated.

If it is found, the form is returned as an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object and set internally for later use
with Mech's form methods such as `[field()](#mech-field-name-value-number)` and
`[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`.

If no form is found it returns `undef`.  This will also trigger a warning, unless `quiet` is
enabled.

## $mech->all\_forms\_with\_fields( @fields )

Selects a form by passing in a list of field names it must contain.  All matching forms (perhaps
none) are returned as a list of [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) objects.

## $mech->form\_with\_fields( @fields, \[ \\%args \] )

Selects a form by passing in a list of field names it must contain. By default, the first form that
matches all of these field names will be returned.

    my $form = $mech->form_with_fields( qw/sku quantity add_to_cart/ );

If you want the second, third or nth match, pass an optional arguments hash reference as the final
parameter with a key `n` to pick which instance you want. The numbering starts at 1.

    my $form = $mech->form_with_fields( 'sky', 'qty', { n => 2 } );

If the `n` parameter is not passed, and there is more than one form on the page with that ID, then
the first one is used, and a warning is generated.

If it is found, the form is returned as an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object and set internally for later used
with Mech's form methods such as `[field()](#mech-field-name-value-number)` and
`[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`.

Returns `undef` and emits a warning if no form is found.

Note that this functionality requires libwww-perl 5.69 or higher.

## $mech->all\_forms\_with( $attr1 => $value1, $attr2 => $value2, ... )

Searches for forms with arbitrary attribute/value pairs within the &lt;form> tag. When given
more than one pair, all criteria must match. Using `undef` as value means that the attribute in
question must not be present.

All matching forms (perhaps none) are returned as a list of [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) objects.

## $mech->form\_with( $attr1 => $value1, $attr2 => $value2, ..., \[ \\%args \] )

Searches for forms with arbitrary attribute/value pairs within the &lt;form> tag. When given
more than one pair, all criteria must match. Using `undef` as value means that the attribute in
question must not be present.

By default, the first form that matches all criteria will be returned.

    my $form = $mech->form_with( name => 'order_form', method => 'POST' );

If you want the second, third or nth match, pass an optional arguments hash reference as the final
parameter with a key `n` to pick which instance you want. The numbering starts at 1.

    my $form = $mech->form_with( method => 'POST', { n => 4 } );

If the `n` parameter is not passed, and there is more than one form on the page matching these
criteria, then the first one is used, and a warning is generated.

If it is found, the form is returned as an [HTML::Form](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm) object and set internally for later used
with Mech's form methods such as `[field()](#mech-field-name-value-number)` and
`[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`.

Returns `undef` if no form is found.

# FIELD METHODS

These methods allow you to set the values of fields in a given form.

## $mech->field( $name, $value, $number )

## $mech->field( $name, \\@values, $number )

## $mech->field( $name, \\@file\_upload\_values, $number )

Given the name of a field, set its value to the value specified. This applies to the current form
(as set by the `[form_name()](#mech-form_name-name-args)` or `[form_number()](#mech-form_number-number)` method or defaulting to the first form on the
page).

If the field is of type "file", its value should be an arrayref. Example:

    $mech->field( $file_input, ['/tmp/file.txt'] );

Value examples for "file" inputs, followed by explanation of what each index mean:

    # 0: filepath      1: filename    3: headers
    ['/tmp/file.txt']
    ['/tmp/file.txt', 'filename.txt']
    ['/tmp/file.txt', 'filename.txt', @headers]
    ['/tmp/file.txt', 'filename.txt', Content => 'some content']
    [undef,           'filename.txt', Content => 'content here']

Index 0 is the _filepath_ that will be read from disk. Index 1 is the filename which will be used
in the HTTP request body; if not given, filepath (index 0) is used instead. If `Content =>
'content here'` is used as shown, then _filepath_ will be ignored.

The optional `$number` parameter is used to distinguish between two fields with the same name. The
fields are numbered from 1.

## $mech->select($name, $new\_or\_additional\_single\_value)

## $mech->select($name, $new\_or\_additional\_single\_value, $number)

## $mech->select($name, \\%new\_single\_value\_by\_number)

## $mech->select($name, \\@new\_list\_of\_values)

## $mech->select($name, \\%new\_list\_of\_values\_by\_number)

Given the name of a `select` field, set its value to the value specified.

    # select 'foo'
    $mech->select($name, 'foo');

The optional `$number` parameter is used to distinguish between two fields with the same name. The
fields are numbered from 1. Note that this only works for selecting simple values, not for
selecting multiple values as once.

    # select the second field with the name 'foo'
    $mech->select($name, 'foo', 2);

If the field is not `<select multiple>` and the `$value` is an array reference, only the
**first** value will be set.  \[Note: until version 1.05\_03 the documentation claimed that only the
last value would be set, but this was incorrect.\]

    # select 'bar'
    $mech->select($name, ['bar', 'ignored', 'ignored']);

Passing `$value` as a hash reference with an `n` key selects an item by number.

    # select the third value
    $mech->select($name, {n => 3});

The numbering starts at 1.  This applies to the current form.

If you have a field with `<select multiple>` and you pass a single `$value`, then `$value`
will be added to the list of fields selected, without clearing the others.

    # add 'bar' to the list of selected values
    $mech->select($name, 'bar');

However, if you pass an array reference, then all previously selected values will be cleared and
replaced with all values inside the array reference.

    # replace the selection with 'foo' and 'bar'
    $mech->select($name, ['foo', 'bar']);

This also works when selecting by numbers, in which case the value of the `n` key will be an array
reference of value numbers you want to replace the selection with.

    # replace the selection with the 2nd and 4th element
    $mech->select($name, {n => [2, 4]});

To add multiple additional values to the list of selected fields without clearing, call `select`
in the simple `$value` form with each single value in a loop.

    # add all values in the array to the selection
    $mech->select($name, $_) for @additional_values;

Returns true on successfully setting the value. On failure, returns false and calls `$self->warn()` with an error message.

## $mech->set\_fields( $name => $value ... )

## $mech->set\_fields( $name => \\@value\_and\_instance\_number )

## $mech->set\_fields( $name => \\$value\_instance\_number )

## $mech->set\_fields( $name => \\@file\_upload )

This method sets multiple fields of the current form. It takes a list of field name and value
pairs. If there is more than one field with the same name, the first one found is set. If you want
to select which of the duplicate field to set, use a value which is an anonymous array which has
the field value and its number as the 2 elements.

        # set the second $name field to 'foo'
        $mech->set_fields( $name => [ 'foo', 2 ] );

The value of a field of type "file" should be an arrayref as described in `[field()](https://metacpan.org/pod/%24mech-%3Efield%28%20%24name%2C%20%24value%2C%20%24number%20%29)`. Examples:

        $mech->set_fields( $file_field => ['/tmp/file.txt'] );
        $mech->set_fields( $file_field => ['/tmp/file.txt', 'filename.txt'] );

The value for a "file" input can also be an arrayref containing an arrayref and a number, as
documented in `[submit_form()](https://metacpan.org/pod/%24mech-%3Esubmit_form%28%20...%20%29)`. The number will be used to find
the field in the form. Example:

        $mech->set_fields( $file_field => [['/tmp/file.txt'], 1] );

The fields are numbered from 1.

For fields that have a predefined set of values, you may also provide a reference to an integer, if
you don't know the options for the field, but you know you just want (e.g.) the first one.

        # select the first value in the $name select box
        $mech->set_fields( $name => \0 );
        # select the last value in the $name select box
        $mech->set_fields( $name => \-1 );

This applies to the current form.

## $mech->set\_visible( @criteria )

This method sets fields of the current form without having to know their names.  So if you have a
login screen that wants a username and password, you do not have to fetch the form and inspect the
source (or use the `mech-dump` utility, installed with WWW::Mechanize) to see what the field names
are; you can just say

    $mech->set_visible( $username, $password );

and the first and second fields will be set accordingly.  The method is called set\__visible_
because it acts only on visible fields; hidden form inputs are not considered.  The order of the
fields is the order in which they appear in the HTML source which is nearly always the order anyone
viewing the page would think they are in, but some creative work with tables could change that;
caveat user.

Each element in `@criteria` is either a field value or a field specifier.  A field value is a
scalar.  A field specifier allows you to specify the _type_ of input field you want to set and is
denoted with an arrayref containing two elements.  So you could specify the first radio button with

    $mech->set_visible( [ radio => 'KCRW' ] );

Field values and specifiers can be intermixed, hence

    $mech->set_visible( 'fred', 'secret', [ option => 'Checking' ] );

would set the first two fields to "fred" and "secret", and the _next_ `OPTION` menu field to
"Checking".

The possible field specifier types are: "text", "password", "hidden", "textarea", "file", "image",
"submit", "radio", "checkbox" and "option".

`set_visible` returns the number of values set.

## $mech->tick( $name, $value \[, $set\] )

"Ticks" the first checkbox that has both the name and value associated with it on the current form.
 If there is no value to the input, just pass an empty string as the value.  Dies if there is no
named checkbox for the value given, if a value is given.  Passing in a false value as the third
optional argument will cause the checkbox to be unticked. The third value does not need to be set
if you wish to merely tick the box.

    $mech->tick('extra', 'cheese');
    $mech->tick('extra', 'mushrooms');

    $mech->tick('no_value', ''); # <input type="checkbox" name="no_value">

## $mech->untick($name, $value)

Causes the checkbox to be unticked.  Shorthand for `tick($name,$value,undef)`

## $mech->value( $name \[, $number\] )

Given the name of a field, return its value. This applies to the current form.

The optional `$number` parameter is used to distinguish between two fields with the same name. The
fields are numbered from 1.

If the field is of type file (file upload field), the value is always cleared to prevent remote
sites from downloading your local files. To upload a file, specify its file name explicitly.

## $mech->click( $button \[, $x, $y\] )

Has the effect of clicking a button on the current form.  The first argument is the name of the
button to be clicked.  The second and third arguments (optional) allow you to specify the (x,y)
coordinates of the click.

If there is only one button on the form, `$mech->click()` with no arguments simply clicks that
one button.

Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object.

## $mech->click\_button( ... )

Has the effect of clicking a button on the current form by specifying its attributes. The arguments
are a list of key/value pairs. Only one of name, id, number, input or value must be specified in
the keys.

Dies if no button is found.

- `name => name`

    Clicks the button named _name_ in the current form.

- `id => id`

    Clicks the button with the id _id_ in the current form.

- `number => n`

    Clicks the _n_th button with type _submit_ in the current form. Numbering starts at 1.

- `value => value`

    Clicks the button with the value _value_ in the current form.

- `input => $inputobject`

    Clicks on the button referenced by `$inputobject`, an instance of [HTML::Form::SubmitInput](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTML%3A%3AForm%3A%3ASubmitInput)
    obtained e.g. from

        $mech->current_form()->find_input( undef, 'submit' )

    `$inputobject` must belong to the current form.

- `x => x`
- `y => y`

    These arguments (optional) allow you to specify the (x,y) coordinates of the click.

## $mech->submit()

Submits the current form, without specifying a button to click.  Actually, no button is clicked at
all.

Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object.

This used to be a synonym for `$mech->click( 'submit' )`, but is no longer so.

## $mech->submit\_form( ... )

This method lets you select a form from the previously fetched page, fill in its fields, and submit
it. It combines the `form_number`/`form_name`, `set_fields` and `click` methods into one higher
level call. Its arguments are a list of key/value pairs, all of which are optional.

- `fields => \%fields`

    Specifies the fields to be filled in the current form.

- `with_fields => \%fields`

    Probably all you need for the common case. It combines a smart form selector and data setting in
    one operation. It selects the first form that contains all fields mentioned in `\%fields`.  This
    is nice because you don't need to know the name or number of the form to do this.

    (calls `[form_with_fields()](#mech-form_with_fields-fields-args)` and `[set_fields()](#mech-set_fields-name-value)`).

    If you choose `with_fields`, the `fields` option will be ignored. The `form_number`,
    `form_name` and `form_id` options will still be used.  An exception will be thrown unless exactly
    one form matches all of the provided criteria.

- `form_number => n`

    Selects the _n_th form (calls `[form_number()](#mech-form_number-number)`.  If this
    param is not specified, the currently-selected form is used.

- `form_name => name`

    Selects the form named _name_ (calls `[form_name()](#mech-form_name-name-args)`)

- `form_id => ID`

    Selects the form with ID _ID_ (calls `[form_id()](#mech-form_name-name-args)`)

- `button => button`

    Clicks on button _button_ (calls `[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`)

- `x => x, y => y`

    Sets the x or y values for `[click()](#mech-click-button-x-y)`

- `strict_forms => bool`

    Sets the HTML::Form strict flag which causes form submission to croak if any of the passed fields
    don't exist on the page, and/or a value doesn't exist in a select element. By default HTML::Form
    sets this value to false.

    This behavior can also be turned on globally by passing `strict_forms => 1` to `WWW::Mechanize->new`. If you do that, you can still disable it for individual calls by passing
    `strict_forms => 0` here.

If no form is selected, the first form found is used.

If _button_ is not passed, then the `[submit()](#mech-submit)` method is used instead.

If you want to submit a file and get its content from a scalar rather than a file in the
filesystem, you can use:

    $mech->submit_form(with_fields => { logfile => [ [ undef, 'whatever', Content => $content ], 1 ] } );

Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object.

# MISCELLANEOUS METHODS

## $mech->add\_header( name => $value \[, name => $value... \] )

Sets HTTP headers for the agent to add or remove from the HTTP request.

    $mech->add_header( Encoding => 'text/klingon' );

If a _value_ is `undef`, then that header will be removed from any future requests.  For example,
to never send a Referer header:

    $mech->add_header( Referer => undef );

If you want to delete a header, use `delete_header`.

Returns the number of name/value pairs added.

**NOTE**: This method was very different in WWW::Mechanize before 1.00. Back then, the headers were
stored in a package hash, not as a member of the object instance.  Calling `add_header()` would
modify the headers for every WWW::Mechanize object, even after your object no longer existed.

## $mech->delete\_header( name \[, name ... \] )

Removes HTTP headers from the agent's list of special headers.  For instance, you might need to do
something like:

    # Don't send a Referer for this URL
    $mech->add_header( Referer => undef );

    # Get the URL
    $mech->get( $url );

    # Back to the default behavior
    $mech->delete_header( 'Referer' );

## $mech->quiet(true/false)

Allows you to suppress warnings to the screen.

    $mech->quiet(0); # turns on warnings (the default)
    $mech->quiet(1); # turns off warnings
    $mech->quiet();  # returns the current quietness status

## $mech->autocheck(true/false)

Allows you to enable and disable autochecking.

Autocheck checks each request made to see if it was successful. This saves you the trouble of
manually checking yourself. Any errors found are errors, not warnings. Please see `[new](#new)` for more details.

    $mech->autocheck(1); # turns on automatic request checking (the default)
    $mech->autocheck(0); # turns off automatic request checking
    $mech->autocheck();  # returns the current autocheck status

## $mech->stack\_depth( $max\_depth )

Get or set the page stack depth. Use this if you're doing a lot of page scraping and running out of
memory.

A value of `0` means "no history at all."  By default, the max stack depth is humongously large,
effectively keeping all history.

## $mech->save\_content( $filename, %opts )

Dumps the contents of `[$mech->content](#mech-content)` into `$filename`.
`$filename` will be overwritten.  Dies if there are any errors.

If the content type does not begin with `"text/"`, then the content is saved in binary mode (i.e.
`binmode()` is set on the output filehandle).

Additional arguments can be passed as _key_/_value_ pairs:

- _$mech->save\_content( $filename, binary => 1 )_

    Filehandle is set with `binmode` to `:raw` and contents are taken calling `$self->content(decoded_by_headers => 1)`. Same as calling:

        $mech->save_content( $filename, binmode => ':raw',
                             decoded_by_headers => 1 );

    This _should_ be the safest way to save contents verbatim.

- _$mech->save\_content( $filename, binmode => $binmode )_

    Filehandle is set to binary mode. If `$binmode` begins with `':'`, it is passed as a parameter to
    `binmode`:

        binmode $fh, $binmode;

    otherwise the filehandle is set to binary mode if `$binmode` is true:

        binmode $fh;

- _all other arguments_

    are passed as-is to `[$mech->content(%opts)](#mech-content)`. In particular,
    `decoded_by_headers` might come handy if you want to revert the effect of line compression
    performed by the web server but without further interpreting the contents (e.g. decoding it
    according to the charset).

## $mech->dump\_headers( \[$fh\] )

Prints a dump of the HTTP response headers for the most recent response.  If `$fh` is not
specified or is `undef`, it dumps to STDOUT.

Unlike the rest of the `dump_*` methods, `$fh` can be a scalar. It will be used as a file name.

## $mech->dump\_links( \[\[$fh\], $absolute\] )

Prints a dump of the links on the current page to `$fh`.  If `$fh` is not specified or is
`undef`, it dumps to STDOUT.

If `$absolute` is true, links displayed are absolute, not relative.

## $mech->dump\_images( \[\[$fh\], $absolute\] )

Prints a dump of the images on the current page to `$fh`.  If `$fh` is not specified or is
`undef`, it dumps to STDOUT.

If `$absolute` is true, links displayed are absolute, not relative.

The output will include empty lines for images that have no `src` attribute and therefore no URL.

## $mech->dump\_forms( \[$fh\] )

Prints a dump of the forms on the current page to `$fh`.  If `$fh` is not specified or is
`undef`, it dumps to STDOUT. Running the following:

    my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
    $mech->get("https://www.google.com/");
    $mech->dump_forms;

will print:

    GET https://www.google.com/search [f]
      ie=ISO-8859-1                  (hidden readonly)
      hl=en                          (hidden readonly)
      source=hp                      (hidden readonly)
      biw=                           (hidden readonly)
      bih=                           (hidden readonly)
      q=                             (text)
      btnG=Google Search             (submit)
      btnI=I'm Feeling Lucky         (submit)
      gbv=1                          (hidden readonly)

## $mech->dump\_text( \[$fh\] )

Prints a dump of the text on the current page to `$fh`.  If `$fh` is not specified or is
`undef`, it dumps to STDOUT.

# OVERRIDDEN LWP::UserAgent METHODS

## $mech->clone()

Clone the mech object.  The clone will be using the same cookie jar as the original mech.

## $mech->redirect\_ok()

An overloaded version of `redirect_ok()` in [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent). This method is used to determine
whether a redirection in the request should be followed.

Note that WWW::Mechanize's constructor pushes POST on to the agent's `requests_redirectable` list.

## $mech->request( $request \[, $arg \[, $size\]\])

Overloaded version of `request()` in [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).  Performs the actual request.  Normally,
if you're using WWW::Mechanize, it's because you don't want to deal with this level of stuff
anyway.

Note that `$request` will be modified.

Returns an [HTTP::Response](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3AResponse) object.

## $mech->update\_html( $html )

Allows you to replace the HTML that the mech has found.  Updates the forms and links parse-trees
that the mech uses internally.

Say you have a page that you know has malformed output, and you want to update it so the links come
out correctly:

    my $html = $mech->content;
    $html =~ s[</option>.{0,3}</td>][</option></select></td>]isg;
    $mech->update_html( $html );

This method is also used internally by the mech itself to update its own HTML content when loading
a page. This means that if you would like to _systematically_ perform the above HTML substitution,
you would overload `update_html` in a subclass thusly:

    package MyMech;
    use parent 'WWW::Mechanize';

    sub update_html {
        my ($self, $html) = @_;
        $html =~ s[</option>.{0,3}</td>][</option></select></td>]isg;
        $self->WWW::Mechanize::update_html( $html );
    }

If you do this, then the mech will use the tidied-up HTML instead of the original both when parsing
for its own needs, and for returning to you through `[content()](#mech-content)`.

Overloading this method is also the recommended way of implementing extra validation steps (e.g.
link checkers) for every HTML page received.  `[warn](#warn-messages)` and `[warn](#warn-messages)` would then come in handy to signal validation errors.

## $mech->credentials( $username, $password )

Provide credentials to be used for HTTP Basic authentication for all sites and realms until further
notice.

The four argument form described in [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent) is still supported.

**Security note:** The two-argument form is not scoped to a host. The credentials are stored on the
object and sent to every host this object contacts, including the targets of cross-domain
redirects. When the same object may contact more than one host, prefer the host-scoped
four-argument form `$mech->credentials($host_port, $realm, $username, $password)` described in
[LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent), which limits the credentials to a single host. The two-argument form emits a
warning on first use.

## $mech->get\_basic\_credentials( $realm, $uri, $isproxy )

Returns the credentials for the realm and URI.

## $mech->clear\_credentials()

Remove any credentials set up with `credentials()`.

# INHERITED UNCHANGED LWP::UserAgent METHODS

As a subclass of [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent), WWW::Mechanize inherits all of [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent)'s methods.
Many of which are overridden or extended. The following methods are inherited unchanged. View the
[LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent) documentation for their implementation descriptions.

This is not meant to be an inclusive list.  LWP::UA may have added others.

## $mech->head()

Inherited from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).

## $mech->mirror()

Inherited from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).

## $mech->simple\_request()

Inherited from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).

## $mech->is\_protocol\_supported()

Inherited from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).

## $mech->prepare\_request()

Inherited from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).

## $mech->progress()

Inherited from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).

# INTERNAL-ONLY METHODS

These methods are only used internally.  You probably don't need to know about them.

## $mech->\_update\_page($request, $response)

Updates all internal variables in `$mech` as if `$request` was just performed, and returns
$response. The page stack is **not** altered by this method, it is up to caller (e.g. `[request](#mech-request-request-arg-size)`) to do that.

## $mech->\_modify\_request( $req )

Modifies a [HTTP::Request](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3ARequest) before the request is sent out, for both GET and POST requests.

We add a `Referer` header, as well as header to note that we can accept gzip encoded content, if
[Compress::Zlib](https://metacpan.org/pod/Compress%3A%3AZlib) is installed.

## $mech->\_make\_request()

Convenience method to make it easier for subclasses like [WWW::Mechanize::Cached](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ACached) to intercept the
request.

## $mech->\_reset\_page()

Resets the internal fields that track page parsed stuff.

## $mech->\_extract\_links()

Extracts links from the content of a webpage, and populates the `{links}` property with
[WWW::Mechanize::Link](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ALink) objects.

## $mech->\_push\_page\_stack()

The agent keeps a stack of visited pages, which it can pop when it needs to go BACK and so on.

The current page needs to be pushed onto the stack before we get a new page, and the stack needs to
be popped when BACK occurs.

Neither of these take any arguments, they just operate on the $mech object.

## warn( @messages )

Centralized warning method, for diagnostics and non-fatal problems. Defaults to calling
`CORE::warn`, but may be overridden by setting `onwarn` in the constructor.

## die( @messages )

Centralized error method.  Defaults to calling `CORE::die`, but may be overridden by setting
`onerror` in the constructor.

# 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.

- autocheck

    `autocheck` can save you the overhead of checking status codes for success. You may outgrow it as
    your needs get more sophisticated, but it's a safe option to start with.

        my $agent = WWW::Mechanize->new( autocheck => 1 );

- cookie\_jar

    You are encouraged to install [Mozilla::PublicSuffix](https://metacpan.org/pod/Mozilla%3A%3APublicSuffix) and use [HTTP::CookieJar::LWP](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3ACookieJar%3A%3ALWP) as your
    cookie jar.  [HTTP::CookieJar::LWP](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3ACookieJar%3A%3ALWP) provides a better security model matching that of current Web
    browsers when [Mozilla::PublicSuffix](https://metacpan.org/pod/Mozilla%3A%3APublicSuffix) is installed.

        use HTTP::CookieJar::LWP ();

        my $jar = HTTP::CookieJar::LWP->new;
        my $agent = WWW::Mechanize->new( cookie_jar => $jar );

- protocols\_allowed

    This option is inherited directly from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).  It may be used to allow arbitrary
    protocols.

        my $agent = WWW::Mechanize->new(
            protocols_allowed => [ 'http', 'https' ]
        );

    This will prevent you from inadvertently following URLs like `file:///etc/passwd`

- protocols\_forbidden

    This option is also inherited directly from [LWP::UserAgent](https://metacpan.org/pod/LWP%3A%3AUserAgent).  It may be used to deny arbitrary
    protocols.

        my $agent = WWW::Mechanize->new(
            protocols_forbidden => [ 'file', 'mailto', 'ssh', ]
        );

    This will prevent you from inadvertently following URLs like `file:///etc/passwd`

- strict\_forms

    Consider turning on the `strict_forms` option when you create a new Mech. This will perform a
    helpful sanity check on form fields every time you are submitting a form, which can save you a lot
    of debugging time.

        my $agent = WWW::Mechanize->new( strict_forms => 1 );

    If you do not want to have this option globally, you can still turn it on for individual forms.

        $agent->submit_form( fields => { foo => 'bar' } , strict_forms => 1 );

# WWW::MECHANIZE'S GIT REPOSITORY

WWW::Mechanize is hosted at GitHub.

Repository: [https://github.com/libwww-perl/WWW-Mechanize](https://github.com/libwww-perl/WWW-Mechanize). Bugs:
[https://github.com/libwww-perl/WWW-Mechanize/issues](https://github.com/libwww-perl/WWW-Mechanize/issues).

# OTHER DOCUMENTATION

## _Spidering Hacks_, by Kevin Hemenway and Tara Calishain

_Spidering Hacks_ from O'Reilly ([http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/spiderhks/](http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/spiderhks/)) is a great book for
anyone wanting to know more about screen-scraping and spidering.

There are six hacks that use Mech or a Mech derivative:

- #21 WWW::Mechanize 101
- #22 Scraping with WWW::Mechanize
- #36 Downloading Images from Webshots
- #44 Archiving Yahoo! Groups Messages with WWW::Yahoo::Groups
- #64 Super Author Searching
- #73 Scraping TV Listings

The book was also positively reviewed on Slashdot:
[http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/11/2126256](http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/11/2126256)

# ONLINE RESOURCES AND SUPPORT

- WWW::Mechanize mailing list

    The Mech mailing list is at [http://groups.google.com/group/www-mechanize-users](http://groups.google.com/group/www-mechanize-users) and is specific
    to Mechanize, unlike the LWP mailing list below.  Although it is a users list, all development
    discussion takes place here, too.

- LWP mailing list

    The LWP mailing list is at [http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=libwww](http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=libwww), and is more
    user-oriented and well-populated than the WWW::Mechanize list.

- Perlmonks

    [http://perlmonks.org](http://perlmonks.org) is an excellent community of support, and many questions about Mech have
    already been answered there.

- [WWW::Mechanize::Examples](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AExamples)

    A random array of examples submitted by users, included with the Mechanize distribution.

# ARTICLES ABOUT WWW::MECHANIZE

- [http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/wa-perlsecure/](http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/wa-perlsecure/)

    IBM article "Secure Web site access with Perl"

- [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks2/chapter/hack84.pdf](http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks2/chapter/hack84.pdf)

    Leland Johnson's hack #84 in _Google Hacks, 2nd Edition_ is an example of a production script that
    uses WWW::Mechanize and HTML::TableContentParser. It takes in keywords and returns the estimated
    price of these keywords on Google's AdWords program.

- [http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2004/06/04/recorder.html](http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2004/06/04/recorder.html)

    Linda Julien writes about using HTTP::Recorder to create WWW::Mechanize scripts.

- [http://www.developer.com/lang/other/article.php/3454041](http://www.developer.com/lang/other/article.php/3454041)

    Jason Gilmore's article on using WWW::Mechanize for scraping sales information from Amazon and
    eBay.

- [http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2003/01/22/mechanize.html](http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2003/01/22/mechanize.html)

    Chris Ball's article about using WWW::Mechanize for scraping TV listings.

- [http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/LinuxMag/col47.html](http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/LinuxMag/col47.html)

    Randal Schwartz's article on scraping Yahoo News for images.  It's already out of date: He manually
    walks the list of links hunting for matches, which wouldn't have been necessary if the `[find_link()](#mech-find_link)` method existed at press time.

- [http://www.perladvent.org/2002/16th/](http://www.perladvent.org/2002/16th/)

    WWW::Mechanize on the Perl Advent Calendar, by Mark Fowler.

- [http://www.linux-magazin.de/ausgaben/2004/03/datenruessel/](http://www.linux-magazin.de/ausgaben/2004/03/datenruessel/)

    Michael Schilli's article on Mech and [WWW::Mechanize::Shell](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AShell) for the German magazine _Linux
    Magazin_.

## Other modules that use Mechanize

Here are modules that use or subclass Mechanize.  Let me know of any others:

- [Finance::Bank::LloydsTSB](https://metacpan.org/pod/Finance%3A%3ABank%3A%3ALloydsTSB)
- [HTTP::Recorder](https://metacpan.org/pod/HTTP%3A%3ARecorder)

    Acts as a proxy for web interaction, and then generates WWW::Mechanize scripts.

- [Win32::IE::Mechanize](https://metacpan.org/pod/Win32%3A%3AIE%3A%3AMechanize)

    Just like Mech, but using Microsoft Internet Explorer to do the work.

- [WWW::Bugzilla](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3ABugzilla)
- [WWW::Google::Groups](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AGoogle%3A%3AGroups)
- [WWW::Hotmail](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AHotmail)
- [WWW::Mechanize::Cached](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ACached)
- [WWW::Mechanize::Cached::GZip](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ACached%3A%3AGZip)
- [WWW::Mechanize::FormFiller](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AFormFiller)
- [WWW::Mechanize::Shell](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3AShell)
- [WWW::Mechanize::Sleepy](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ASleepy)
- [WWW::Mechanize::SpamCop](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ASpamCop)
- [WWW::Mechanize::Timed](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AMechanize%3A%3ATimed)
- [WWW::SourceForge](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3ASourceForge)
- [WWW::Yahoo::Groups](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AYahoo%3A%3AGroups)
- [WWW::Scripter](https://metacpan.org/pod/WWW%3A%3AScripter)

# ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the numerous people who have helped out on WWW::Mechanize in one way or another,
including Kirrily Robert for the original `WWW::Automate`, Lyle Hopkins, Damien Clark, Ansgar
Burchardt, Gisle Aas, Jeremy Ary, Hilary Holz, Rafael Kitover, Norbert Buchmuller, Dave Page, David
Sainty, H.Merijn Brand, Matt Lawrence, Michael Schwern, Adriano Ferreira, Miyagawa, Peteris
Krumins, Rafael Kitover, David Steinbrunner, Kevin Falcone, Mike O'Regan, Mark Stosberg, Uri
Guttman, Peter Scott, Philippe Bruhat, Ian Langworth, John Beppu, Gavin Estey, Jim Brandt, Ask
Bjoern Hansen, Greg Davies, Ed Silva, Mark-Jason Dominus, Autrijus Tang, Mark Fowler, Stuart
Children, Max Maischein, Meng Wong, Prakash Kailasa, Abigail, Jan Pazdziora, Dominique Quatravaux,
Scott Lanning, Rob Casey, Leland Johnson, Joshua Gatcomb, Julien Beasley, Abe Timmerman, Peter
Stevens, Pete Krawczyk, Tad McClellan, and the late great Iain Truskett.

# PACKAGING FOR OPERATING SYSTEMS

<div>
    <a href="https://repology.org/project/perl%3Awww-mechanize/versions"><img
    src="https://repology.org/badge/vertical-allrepos/perl%3Awww-mechanize.svg" alt="Packaging status
    by Repology"></a>
</div>

# AUTHOR

Andy Lester &lt;andy at petdance.com>

# COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2004 by Andy Lester.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
