1HTTP::Tiny(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation HTTP::Tiny(3)
2
6 HTTP::Tiny - A small, simple, correct HTTP/1.1 client
7
9 version 0.086
10
12 use HTTP::Tiny;
13 my $response = HTTP::Tiny->new->get('http://example.com/');
15 die "Failed!\n" unless $response->{success};
17 print "$response->{status} $response->{reason}\n";
19 while (my ($k, $v) = each %{$response->{headers}}) {
21 for (ref $v eq 'ARRAY' ? @$v : $v) {
22 print "$k: $_\n";
23 }
24 }
25 print $response->{content} if length $response->{content};
27
29 This is a very simple HTTP/1.1 client, designed for doing simple
30 requests without the overhead of a large framework like LWP::UserAgent.
31 It is more correct and more complete than HTTP::Lite. It supports
33 proxies and redirection. It also correctly resumes after EINTR.
34 If IO::Socket::IP 0.25 or later is installed, HTTP::Tiny will use it
36 instead of IO::Socket::INET for transparent support for both IPv4 and
37 IPv6.
38 Cookie support requires HTTP::CookieJar or an equivalent class.
40
42 new
43 $http = HTTP::Tiny->new( %attributes );
44 This constructor returns a new HTTP::Tiny object. Valid attributes
46 include:
47 • "agent" — A user-agent string (defaults to 'HTTP-Tiny/$VERSION').
49 If "agent" — ends in a space character, the default user-agent
50 string is appended.
51 • "cookie_jar" — An instance of HTTP::CookieJar — or equivalent class
53 that supports the "add" and "cookie_header" methods
54 • "default_headers" — A hashref of default headers to apply to
56 requests
57 • "local_address" — The local IP address to bind to
59 • "keep_alive" — Whether to reuse the last connection (if for the
61 same scheme, host and port) (defaults to 1)
62 • "max_redirect" — Maximum number of redirects allowed (defaults to
64 5)
65 • "max_size" — Maximum response size in bytes (only when not using a
67 data callback). If defined, requests with responses larger than
68 this will return a 599 status code.
69 • "http_proxy" — URL of a proxy server to use for HTTP connections
71 (default is $ENV{http_proxy} — if set)
72 • "https_proxy" — URL of a proxy server to use for HTTPS connections
74 (default is $ENV{https_proxy} — if set)
75 • "proxy" — URL of a generic proxy server for both HTTP and HTTPS
77 connections (default is $ENV{all_proxy} — if set)
78 • "no_proxy" — List of domain suffixes that should not be proxied.
80 Must be a comma-separated string or an array reference. (default is
81 $ENV{no_proxy} —)
82 • "timeout" — Request timeout in seconds (default is 60) If a socket
84 open, read or write takes longer than the timeout, the request
85 response status code will be 599.
86 • "verify_SSL" — A boolean that indicates whether to validate the
88 TLS/SSL certificate of an "https" — connection (default is true).
89 Changed from false to true in version 0.083.
90 • "SSL_options" — A hashref of "SSL_*" — options to pass through to
92 IO::Socket::SSL
93 • $ENV{PERL_HTTP_TINY_SSL_INSECURE_BY_DEFAULT} - Changes the default
95 certificate verification behavior to not check server identity if
96 set to 1. Only effective if "verify_SSL" is not set. Added in
97 version 0.083.
98 An accessor/mutator method exists for each attribute.
100 Passing an explicit "undef" for "proxy", "http_proxy" or "https_proxy"
102 will prevent getting the corresponding proxies from the environment.
103 Errors during request execution will result in a pseudo-HTTP status
105 code of 599 and a reason of "Internal Exception". The content field in
106 the response will contain the text of the error.
107 The "keep_alive" parameter enables a persistent connection, but only to
109 a single destination scheme, host and port. If any connection-relevant
110 attributes are modified via accessor, or if the process ID or thread ID
111 change, the persistent connection will be dropped. If you want
112 persistent connections across multiple destinations, use multiple
113 HTTP::Tiny objects.
114 See "SSL SUPPORT" for more on the "verify_SSL" and "SSL_options"
116 attributes.
117 get|head|put|post|patch|delete
119 $response = $http->get($url);
120 $response = $http->get($url, \%options);
121 $response = $http->head($url);
122 These methods are shorthand for calling request() for the given method.
124 The URL must have unsafe characters escaped and international domain
125 names encoded. See request() for valid options and a description of
126 the response.
127 The "success" field of the response will be true if the status code is
129 2XX.
130 post_form
132 $response = $http->post_form($url, $form_data);
133 $response = $http->post_form($url, $form_data, \%options);
134 This method executes a "POST" request and sends the key/value pairs
136 from a form data hash or array reference to the given URL with a
137 "content-type" of "application/x-www-form-urlencoded". If data is
138 provided as an array reference, the order is preserved; if provided as
139 a hash reference, the terms are sorted on key and value for
140 consistency. See documentation for the "www_form_urlencode" method for
141 details on the encoding.
142 The URL must have unsafe characters escaped and international domain
144 names encoded. See request() for valid options and a description of
145 the response. Any "content-type" header or content in the options
146 hashref will be ignored.
147 The "success" field of the response will be true if the status code is
149 2XX.
150 mirror
152 $response = $http->mirror($url, $file, \%options)
153 if ( $response->{success} ) {
154 print "$file is up to date\n";
155 }
156 Executes a "GET" request for the URL and saves the response body to the
158 file name provided. The URL must have unsafe characters escaped and
159 international domain names encoded. If the file already exists, the
160 request will include an "If-Modified-Since" header with the
161 modification timestamp of the file. You may specify a different
162 "If-Modified-Since" header yourself in the "$options->{headers}" hash.
163 The "success" field of the response will be true if the status code is
165 2XX or if the status code is 304 (unmodified).
166 If the file was modified and the server response includes a properly
168 formatted "Last-Modified" header, the file modification time will be
169 updated accordingly.
170 request
172 $response = $http->request($method, $url);
173 $response = $http->request($method, $url, \%options);
174 Executes an HTTP request of the given method type ('GET', 'HEAD',
176 'POST', 'PUT', etc.) on the given URL. The URL must have unsafe
177 characters escaped and international domain names encoded.
178 NOTE: Method names are case-sensitive per the HTTP/1.1 specification.
180 Don't use "get" when you really want "GET". See LIMITATIONS for how
181 this applies to redirection.
182 If the URL includes a "user:password" stanza, they will be used for
184 Basic-style authorization headers. (Authorization headers will not be
185 included in a redirected request.) For example:
186 $http->request('GET', 'http://Aladdin:open sesame@example.com/');
188 If the "user:password" stanza contains reserved characters, they must
190 be percent-escaped:
191 $http->request('GET', 'http://john%40example.com:password@example.com/');
193 A hashref of options may be appended to modify the request.
195 Valid options are:
197 • "headers" — A hashref containing headers to include with the
199 request. If the value for a header is an array reference, the
200 header will be output multiple times with each value in the array.
201 These headers over-write any default headers.
202 • "content" — A scalar to include as the body of the request OR a
204 code reference that will be called iteratively to produce the body
205 of the request
206 • "trailer_callback" — A code reference that will be called if it
208 exists to provide a hashref of trailing headers (only used with
209 chunked transfer-encoding)
210 • "data_callback" — A code reference that will be called for each
212 chunks of the response body received.
213 • "peer" — Override host resolution and force all connections to go
215 only to a specific peer address, regardless of the URL of the
216 request. This will include any redirections! This options should
217 be used with extreme caution (e.g. debugging or very special
218 circumstances). It can be given as either a scalar or a code
219 reference that will receive the hostname and whose response will be
220 taken as the address.
221 The "Host" header is generated from the URL in accordance with RFC
223 2616. It is a fatal error to specify "Host" in the "headers" option.
224 Other headers may be ignored or overwritten if necessary for transport
225 compliance.
226 If the "content" option is a code reference, it will be called
228 iteratively to provide the content body of the request. It should
229 return the empty string or undef when the iterator is exhausted.
230 If the "content" option is the empty string, no "content-type" or
232 "content-length" headers will be generated.
233 If the "data_callback" option is provided, it will be called
235 iteratively until the entire response body is received. The first
236 argument will be a string containing a chunk of the response body, the
237 second argument will be the in-progress response hash reference, as
238 described below. (This allows customizing the action of the callback
239 based on the "status" or "headers" received prior to the content body.)
240 Content data in the request/response is handled as "raw bytes". Any
242 encoding/decoding (with associated headers) are the responsibility of
243 the caller.
244 The "request" method returns a hashref containing the response. The
246 hashref will have the following keys:
247 • "success" — Boolean indicating whether the operation returned a 2XX
249 status code
250 • "url" — URL that provided the response. This is the URL of the
252 request unless there were redirections, in which case it is the
253 last URL queried in a redirection chain
254 • "status" — The HTTP status code of the response
256 • "reason" — The response phrase returned by the server
258 • "content" — The body of the response. If the response does not
260 have any content or if a data callback is provided to consume the
261 response body, this will be the empty string
262 • "headers" — A hashref of header fields. All header field names
264 will be normalized to be lower case. If a header is repeated, the
265 value will be an arrayref; it will otherwise be a scalar string
266 containing the value
267 • "protocol" - If this field exists, it is the protocol of the
269 response such as HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1
270 • "redirects" If this field exists, it is an arrayref of response
272 hash references from redirects in the same order that redirections
273 occurred. If it does not exist, then no redirections occurred.
274 On an error during the execution of the request, the "status" field
276 will contain 599, and the "content" field will contain the text of the
277 error.
278 www_form_urlencode
280 $params = $http->www_form_urlencode( $data );
281 $response = $http->get("http://example.com/query?$params");
282 This method converts the key/value pairs from a data hash or array
284 reference into a "x-www-form-urlencoded" string. The keys and values
285 from the data reference will be UTF-8 encoded and escaped per RFC 3986.
286 If a value is an array reference, the key will be repeated with each of
287 the values of the array reference. If data is provided as a hash
288 reference, the key/value pairs in the resulting string will be sorted
289 by key and value for consistent ordering.
290 can_ssl
292 $ok = HTTP::Tiny->can_ssl;
293 ($ok, $why) = HTTP::Tiny->can_ssl;
294 ($ok, $why) = $http->can_ssl;
295 Indicates if SSL support is available. When called as a class object,
297 it checks for the correct version of Net::SSLeay and IO::Socket::SSL.
298 When called as an object methods, if "SSL_verify" is true or if
299 "SSL_verify_mode" is set in "SSL_options", it checks that a CA file is
300 available.
301 In scalar context, returns a boolean indicating if SSL is available.
303 In list context, returns the boolean and a (possibly multi-line) string
304 of errors indicating why SSL isn't available.
305 connected
307 $host = $http->connected;
308 ($host, $port) = $http->connected;
309 Indicates if a connection to a peer is being kept alive, per the
311 "keep_alive" option.
312 In scalar context, returns the peer host and port, joined with a colon,
314 or "undef" (if no peer is connected). In list context, returns the
315 peer host and port or an empty list (if no peer is connected).
316 Note: This method cannot reliably be used to discover whether the
318 remote host has closed its end of the socket.
319
321 Direct "https" connections are supported only if IO::Socket::SSL 1.56
322 or greater and Net::SSLeay 1.49 or greater are installed. An error will
323 occur if new enough versions of these modules are not installed or if
324 the TLS encryption fails. You can also use HTTP::Tiny::can_ssl()
325 utility function that returns boolean to see if the required modules
326 are installed.
327 An "https" connection may be made via an "http" proxy that supports the
329 CONNECT command (i.e. RFC 2817). You may not proxy "https" via a proxy
330 that itself requires "https" to communicate.
331 TLS/SSL provides two distinct capabilities:
333 • Encrypted communication channel
335 • Verification of server identity
337 By default, HTTP::Tiny verifies server identity.
339 This was changed in version 0.083 due to security concerns. The
341 previous default behavior can be enabled by setting
342 $ENV{PERL_HTTP_TINY_SSL_INSECURE_BY_DEFAULT} to 1.
343 Verification is done by checking that that the TLS/SSL connection has a
345 valid certificate corresponding to the host name of the connection and
346 that the certificate has been verified by a CA. Assuming you trust the
347 CA, this will protect against machine-in-the-middle attacks
348 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-in-the-middle_attack>.
349 Certificate verification requires a file containing trusted CA
351 certificates.
352 If the environment variable "SSL_CERT_FILE" is present, HTTP::Tiny will
354 try to find a CA certificate file in that location.
355 If the Mozilla::CA module is installed, HTTP::Tiny will use the CA file
357 included with it as a source of trusted CA's.
358 If that module is not available, then HTTP::Tiny will search several
360 system-specific default locations for a CA certificate file:
361 • /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
363 • /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
365 • /etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem
367 • /etc/openssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
369 • /etc/ssl/cert.pem
371 • /usr/local/share/certs/ca-root-nss.crt
373 • /etc/pki/tls/cacert.pem
375 • /etc/certs/ca-certificates.crt
377 An error will be occur if "verify_SSL" is true and no CA certificate
379 file is available.
380 If you desire complete control over TLS/SSL connections, the
382 "SSL_options" attribute lets you provide a hash reference that will be
383 passed through to IO::Socket::SSL::start_SSL(), overriding any options
384 set by HTTP::Tiny. For example, to provide your own trusted CA file:
385 SSL_options => {
387 SSL_ca_file => $file_path,
388 }
389 The "SSL_options" attribute could also be used for such things as
391 providing a client certificate for authentication to a server or
392 controlling the choice of cipher used for the TLS/SSL connection. See
393 IO::Socket::SSL documentation for details.
394
396 HTTP::Tiny can proxy both "http" and "https" requests. Only Basic
397 proxy authorization is supported and it must be provided as part of the
398 proxy URL: "http://user:pass@proxy.example.com/".
399 HTTP::Tiny supports the following proxy environment variables:
401 • http_proxy or HTTP_PROXY
403 • https_proxy or HTTPS_PROXY
405 • all_proxy or ALL_PROXY
407 If the "REQUEST_METHOD" environment variable is set, then this might be
409 a CGI process and "HTTP_PROXY" would be set from the "Proxy:" header,
410 which is a security risk. If "REQUEST_METHOD" is set, "HTTP_PROXY"
411 (the upper case variant only) is ignored, but "CGI_HTTP_PROXY" is
412 considered instead.
413 Tunnelling "https" over an "http" proxy using the CONNECT method is
415 supported. If your proxy uses "https" itself, you can not tunnel
416 "https" over it.
417 Be warned that proxying an "https" connection opens you to the risk of
419 a man-in-the-middle attack by the proxy server.
420 The "no_proxy" environment variable is supported in the format of a
422 comma-separated list of domain extensions proxy should not be used for.
423 Proxy arguments passed to "new" will override their corresponding
425 environment variables.
426
428 HTTP::Tiny is conditionally compliant with the HTTP/1.1 specifications
429 <http://www.w3.org/Protocols/>:
430 • "Message Syntax and Routing" [RFC7230]
432 • "Semantics and Content" [RFC7231]
434 • "Conditional Requests" [RFC7232]
436 • "Range Requests" [RFC7233]
438 • "Caching" [RFC7234]
440 • "Authentication" [RFC7235]
442 It attempts to meet all "MUST" requirements of the specification, but
444 does not implement all "SHOULD" requirements. (Note: it was developed
445 against the earlier RFC 2616 specification and may not yet meet the
446 revised RFC 7230-7235 spec.) Additionally, HTTP::Tiny supports the
447 "PATCH" method of RFC 5789.
448 Some particular limitations of note include:
450 • HTTP::Tiny focuses on correct transport. Users are responsible for
452 ensuring that user-defined headers and content are compliant with
453 the HTTP/1.1 specification.
454 • Users must ensure that URLs are properly escaped for unsafe
456 characters and that international domain names are properly encoded
457 to ASCII. See URI::Escape, URI::_punycode and Net::IDN::Encode.
458 • Redirection is very strict against the specification. Redirection
460 is only automatic for response codes 301, 302, 307 and 308 if the
461 request method is 'GET' or 'HEAD'. Response code 303 is always
462 converted into a 'GET' redirection, as mandated by the
463 specification. There is no automatic support for status 305 ("Use
464 proxy") redirections.
465 • There is no provision for delaying a request body using an "Expect"
467 header. Unexpected "1XX" responses are silently ignored as per the
468 specification.
469 • Only 'chunked' "Transfer-Encoding" is supported.
471 • There is no support for a Request-URI of '*' for the 'OPTIONS'
473 request.
474 • Headers mentioned in the RFCs and some other, well-known headers
476 are generated with their canonical case. Other headers are sent in
477 the case provided by the user. Except for control headers (which
478 are sent first), headers are sent in arbitrary order.
479 Despite the limitations listed above, HTTP::Tiny is considered feature-
481 complete. New feature requests should be directed to HTTP::Tiny::UA.
482
484 • HTTP::Tiny::UA - Higher level UA features for HTTP::Tiny
485 • HTTP::Thin - HTTP::Tiny wrapper with HTTP::Request/HTTP::Response
487 compatibility
488 • HTTP::Tiny::Mech - Wrap WWW::Mechanize instance in HTTP::Tiny
490 compatible interface
491 • IO::Socket::IP - Required for IPv6 support
493 • IO::Socket::SSL - Required for SSL support
495 • LWP::UserAgent - If HTTP::Tiny isn't enough for you, this is the
497 "standard" way to do things
498 • Mozilla::CA - Required if you want to validate SSL certificates
500 • Net::SSLeay - Required for SSL support
502
504 Bugs / Feature Requests
505 Please report any bugs or feature requests through the issue tracker at
506 <https://github.com/chansen/p5-http-tiny/issues>. You will be notified
507 automatically of any progress on your issue.
508 Source Code
510 This is open source software. The code repository is available for
511 public review and contribution under the terms of the license.
512 <https://github.com/chansen/p5-http-tiny>
514 git clone https://github.com/chansen/p5-http-tiny.git
516
518 • Christian Hansen <chansen@cpan.org>
519 • David Golden <dagolden@cpan.org>
521
523 • Alan Gardner <gardner@pythian.com>
524 • Alessandro Ghedini <al3xbio@gmail.com>
526 • A. Sinan Unur <nanis@cpan.org>
528 • Brad Gilbert <bgills@cpan.org>
530 • brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
532 • Chris Nehren <apeiron@cpan.org>
534 • Chris Weyl <cweyl@alumni.drew.edu>
536 • Claes Jakobsson <claes@surfar.nu>
538 • Clinton Gormley <clint@traveljury.com>
540 • Craig A. Berry <craigberry@mac.com>
542 • Craig Berry <cberry@cpan.org>
544 • David Golden <xdg@xdg.me>
546 • David Mitchell <davem@iabyn.com>
548 • Dean Pearce <pearce@pythian.com>
550 • Edward Zborowski <ed@rubensteintech.com>
552 • Felipe Gasper <felipe@felipegasper.com>
554 • Graham Knop <haarg@haarg.org>
556 • Greg Kennedy <kennedy.greg@gmail.com>
558 • James E Keenan <jkeenan@cpan.org>
560 • James Raspass <jraspass@gmail.com>
562 • Jeremy Mates <jmates@cpan.org>
564 • Jess Robinson <castaway@desert-island.me.uk>
566 • Karen Etheridge <ether@cpan.org>
568 • Lukas Eklund <leklund@gmail.com>
570 • Martin J. Evans <mjegh@ntlworld.com>
572 • Martin-Louis Bright <mlbright@gmail.com>
574 • Matthew Horsfall <wolfsage@gmail.com>
576 • Michael R. Davis <mrdvt92@users.noreply.github.com>
578 • Mike Doherty <doherty@cpan.org>
580 • Nicolas Rochelemagne <rochelemagne@cpanel.net>
582 • Olaf Alders <olaf@wundersolutions.com>
584 • Olivier Mengué <dolmen@cpan.org>
586 • Petr Písař <ppisar@redhat.com>
588 • sanjay-cpu <snjkmr32@gmail.com>
590 • Serguei Trouchelle <stro@cpan.org>
592 • Shoichi Kaji <skaji@cpan.org>
594 • SkyMarshal <skymarshal1729@gmail.com>
596 • Sören Kornetzki <soeren.kornetzki@delti.com>
598 • Steve Grazzini <steve.grazzini@grantstreet.com>
600 • Stig Palmquist <git@stig.io>
602 • Syohei YOSHIDA <syohex@gmail.com>
604 • Tatsuhiko Miyagawa <miyagawa@bulknews.net>
606 • Tom Hukins <tom@eborcom.com>
608 • Tony Cook <tony@develop-help.com>
610 • Xavier Guimard <yadd@debian.org>
612
614 This software is copyright (c) 2023 by Christian Hansen.
615 This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
617 the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
618perl v5.36.1 2023-08-03 HTTP::Tiny(3)