NAME

HTTP::BrowserDetect - Determine the Web browser, version, and platform from an HTTP user agent string

SYNOPSIS

    use HTTP::BrowserDetect;

    my $browser = new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string);

    # Detect operating system
    if ($browser->windows) {
      if ($browser->winnt) ...
      if ($brorwser->win95) ...
    }
    print $browser->mac;

    # Detect browser vendor and version
    print $browser->netscape;
    print $browser->ie;
    if (browser->major(4)) {
	if ($browser->minor() > .5) {
	    ...
	}
    }
    if ($browser->version() > 4) {
      ...;
    }
    
    # Process a different user agent string
    $browser->user_agent($another_user_agent_string);

DESCRIPTION

The HTTP::BrowserDetect object does a number of tests on an HTTP user agent string. The results of these tests are available via methods of the object.

This module is based upon the JavaScript browser detection code available at http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

CREATING A NEW BROWSER DETECT OBJECT AND SETTING THE USER AGENT STRING

new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string)

The constructor may be called with a user agent string specified. Otherwise, it will use the value specified by $ENV{'HTTP_USER_AGENT'}, which is set by the web server when calling a CGI script.

You may also use a non-object-oriented interface. For each method, you may call HTTP::BrowserDetect::method_name(). You will then be working with a default HTTP::BrowserDetect object that is created behind the scenes.

user_agent($user_agent_string)

Returns the value of the user agent string. When called with a parameter, it resets the user agent and reperforms all tests on the string. This way you can process a series of user agent strings (from a log file, perhaps) without creating a new HTTP::BrowserDetect object each time.

DETECTING BROWSER VERSION

major($major)

Returns the integer portion of the browser version. If passed a parameter, returns true if it equals the browser major version.

minor($minor)

Returns the decimal portion of the browser version as a floating-point number less than 1. For example, if the version is 4.05, this method returns .05; if the version is 4.5, this method returns .5. This is a change in behavior from previous versions of this module, which returned a string.

If passed a parameter, returns true if equals the minor version.

On occasion a version may have more than one decimal point, such as 'Wget/1.4.5'. The minor version does not include the second decimal point, or any further digits or decimals.

version($version)

Returns the version as a floating-point number. If passed a parameter, returns true if it is equal to the version specified by the user agent string.

beta($beta)

Returns any the beta version, consisting of any non-numeric characters after the version number. For instance, if the user agent string is 'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0b2; Windows NT)', returns 'b2'. If passed a parameter, returns true if equal to the beta version. If the beta starts with a dot, it is thrown away.

DETECTING OS PLATFORM AND VERSION

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value. Some methods also test for the operating system version. The indentations below show the hierarchy of tests (for example, win2k is considered a type of winnt, which is a type of win32)

windows 
  win16 win3x win31  
  win32 
      winme win95 win98
      winnt
          win2k winxp
dotnet

mac 
  mac68k macppc macosx

os2

unix 
  sun sun4 sun5 suni86 irix irix5 irix6 hpux hpux9 hpux10 
  aix aix1 aix2 aix3 aix4 linux sco unixware mpras reliant 
  dec sinix freebsd bsd

vms

amiga

It may not be possibile to detect Win98 in Netscape 4.x and earlier. On Opera 3.0, the userAgent string includes "Windows 95/NT4" on all Win32, so you can't distinguish between Win95 and WinNT.

os_string()

Returns one of the following strings, or undef. This method exists solely for compatibility with the HTTP::Headers::UserAgent module.

Win95, Win98, WinNT, Win2K, WinXP, Mac, Mac OS X, Win3x, OS2, Unix, Linux

DETECTING BROWSER VENDOR

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value. Some methods also test for the browser version, saving you from checking the version separately.

netscape nav2 nav3 nav4 nav4up nav45 nav45up navgold nav6 nav6up
gecko 
mozilla
firefox 
safari
ie ie3 ie4 ie4up ie5 ie55 ie6
neoplanet neoplanet2 
mosaic
aol aol3 aol4 aol5 aol6
webtv
opera opera3 opera4 opera5 opera6 opera7
lynx links
emacs
staroffice
lotusnotes
icab
konqueror
java
curl

Netscape 6, even though its called six, in the userAgent string has version number 5. The nav6 and nav6up methods correctly handle this quirk. The firefox text correctly detects the older-named versions of the browser (Phoenix, Firebird)

browser_string()

Returns one of the following strings, or undef.

Netscape, MSIE, WebTV, AOL Browser, Opera, Mosaic, Lynx

gecko_version()

If a Gecko rendering engine is used (as in Mozilla or Firebird), returns the version of the renderer (e.g. 1.3a, 1.7, 1.8) This might be more useful than the particular browser name or version when correcting for quirks in different versions of this rendering engine. If no Gecko browser is being used, or the version number can't be detected, returns undef.

DETECTING OTHER DEVICES

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value.

wap
audrey
iopener
palm
avantgo
blackberry

DETECTING ROBOTS

robot()

Returns true if the user agent appears to be a robot, spider, crawler, or other automated Web client.

The following additional methods are available, each returning a true or false value. This is by no means a complete list of robots that exist on the Web.

wget
getright
yahoo 
altavista 
lycos 
infoseek 
lwp
webcrawler 
linkexchange 
slurp 
google

AUTHOR

Lee Semel, lee@semel.net

Thanks to Leonardo Herrera for additional contributions

SEE ALSO

"The Ultimate JavaScript Client Sniffer, Version 3.0", http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

"Browser ID (User-Agent) Strings" http://www.zytrax.com/tech/web/browser_ids.htm

perl(1), HTTP::Headers, HTTP::Headers::UserAgent.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1999-2004 Lee Semel. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

cpanm HTTP::BrowserDetect

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install HTTP::BrowserDetect