NAME

URL::Normalize - Normalize/optimize URLs.

VERSION

Version 0.31

SYNOPSIS

use URL::Normalize;

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new( 'http://www.example.com/display?lang=en&article=fred' );

# Normalize the URL of your choosing.
$normalizer->remove_social_query_params;
$normalizer->make_canonical;

# Get the normalized version back.
my $url = $normalizer->url;

DESCRIPTION

This is NOT a perfect solution. If you normalize a URL using all the methods in this module, there is a high probability that the URL will "stop working". This is merely a helper module for those of you who wants to either normalize a URL using only a few of the safer methods, and/or for those of you who wants to generate a unique "ID" from any given URL.

When writing a web crawler, for example, it's always very costly to check if a URL has been fetched/seen when you have millions or billions of URLs in a sort of database. This module can help you create a unique "ID", which you then can use as a key in a key/value-store; the key is the normalized URL, whereas all the URLs that converts to the normalized URL are part of the value (normally an array or hash);

'http://www.example.com/' = {
    'http://www.example.com:80/'        => 1,
    'http://www.example.com/index.html' => 1,
    'http://www.example.com/?'          => 1,
}

Above, all the URLs inside the hash normalizes to the key if you run these methods:

make_canonical
remove_directory_index
remove_empty_query

You could think of this module as a URL-specific Bloom::Filter helper.

CONSTRUCTORS

new( $url )

Constructs a new URL::Normalize object:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new( 'http://www.example.com/some/path' );

You can also send in just the path:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new( '/some/path' );

The latter is not recommended, however, so you should look into URI's new_abs to create "real" URLs before you send them to URL::Normalize.

METHODS

url

Get the current URL, preferably after you have run one or more of the normalization methods.

get_url

DEPRECATED! Use url instead.

URI

Returns a URI representation of the current URL.

make_canonical

Just a shortcut for URI::URL->new->canonical->as_string, and involves the following steps (at least):

Converts the scheme and host to lower case.
Capitalizes letters in escape sequences.
Decodes percent-encoded octets of unreserved characters.
Removes the default port (port 80 for http).

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'HTTP://www.example.com:80/%7Eusername/',
);

$normalizer->make_canonical;

print $normalizer->url; # http://www.example.com/~username/

remove_dot_segments

The ., .. and ... segments will be removed and "folded" (or "flattened", if you prefer) from the URL.

This method does NOT follow the algorithm described in RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Indentifier, but rather flattens each path segment.

Also keep in mind that this method doesn't (can't) account for symbolic links on the server side.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/../a/b/../c/./d.html',
);

$normalizer->remove_dot_segments;

print $normalizer->get_url; # http://www.example.com/a/c/d.html

remove_directory_index

Removes well-known directory indexes, eg. index.html, default.asp etc.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/index.cgi?foo=/',
);

$normalizer->remove_directory_index;

print $normalizer->url; # http://www.example.com/?foo=/

The default regular expressions for matching a directory index are:

/default\.aspx?
/index\.cgi
/index\.php\d?
/index\.pl
/index\.s?html?

You can override these by sending in your own list of regular expressions when creating the URL::Normalizer object:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url               => 'http://www.example.com/index.cgi?foo=/',
    dir_index_regexps => [ 'MyDirIndex\.html' ], # etc.
);

You can also choose to add regular expressions after the URL::Normalize object has been created:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url               => 'http://www.example.com/index.cgi?foo=/',
    dir_index_regexps => [ 'MyDirIndex\.html' ], # etc.
);

# ...

push( @{$normalizer->dir_index_regexps}, 'MyDirIndex\.html' );

Keep in mind that the regular expression are NOT case-sensitive, so the default /default\.aspx? expression will NOT match /Default\.aspx?.

sort_query_parameters

Sorts the URL's query parameters alphabetically.

Uppercased parameters will be lowercased during sorting, and if there are multiple values for a parameter, the key/value-pairs will be sorted as well.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/?b=2&c=3&a=0&A=1',
);

$normalizer->sort_query_parameters;

print $normalizer->url; # http://www.example.com/?a=0&A=1&b=2&c=3

remove_duplicate_query_parameters

Removes duplicate query parameters, i.e. where the key/value combination is identical with another key/value combination.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/?a=1&a=2&b=4&a=1&c=4',
);

$normalizer->remove_duplicate_query_parameters;

print $normalizer->url; # http://www.example.com/?a=1&a=2&b=3&c=4

remove_empty_query_parameters

Removes empty query parameters, i.e. where there are keys with no value. This only removes BLANK values, not values considered to be no value, like zero (0).

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/?a=1&b=&c=3',
);

$normalizer->remove_empty_query_parameters;

print $normalizer->url; # http://www.example.com/?a=1&c=3

remove_empty_query

Removes empty query from the URL.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/foo?',
);

$normalizer->remove_empty_query;

print $Normalize->url; # http://www.example.com/foo

remove_fragment

Removes the fragment from the URL, but only if they are at the end of the URL.

For example "http://www.example.com/#foo" will be translated to http://www.example.com/, but http://www.example.com/#foo/bar will stay the same.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/bar.html#section1',
);

$normalizer->remove_fragment;

print $normalizer->url; # http://www.example.com/bar.html

You should probably use this with caution, as most web frameworks today allows fragments for logic, for example:

http://www.example.com/players#all
http://www.example.com/players#banned
http://www.example.com/players#top

...can all result in very different results, despite their "unfragmented" URL being the same.

remove_fragments

Removes EVERYTHING after a #. As with remove_fragment, you should use this with caution, because a lot of web applications these days returns different output in response to what the fragment is, for example:

http://www.example.com/users#list
http://www.example.com/users#edit

...etc.

remove_duplicate_slashes

Remove duplicate slashes from the URL.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/foo//bar.html',
);

$normalizer->remove_duplicate_slashes;

print $normalizer->url; # http://www.example.com/foo/bar.html

remove_social_query_parameters

Removes query parameters that are used for "social tracking."

For example, a lot of newspapers posts links to their articles on Twitter, and adds a lot of (for us) "noise" in the URL so that they are able to track the number of users clicking on that specific URL. This method attempts to remove those query parameters.

Example:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/?utm_campaign=SomeCampaignId',
);

print $normalize->url; # 'http://www.example.com/'

Default social query parameters are:

ncid
utm_campaign
utm_medium
utm_source

You can override these default values when creating the URL::Normalize object:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url                 => 'http://www.example.com/',
    social_query_params => [ 'your', 'list' ],
);

You can also choose to add parameters after the URL::Normalize object has been created:

my $normalizer = URL::Normalize->new(
    url => 'http://www.example.com/',
);

push( @{$normalizer->social_query_params}, 'QueryParam' );

AUTHOR

Tore Aursand, <toreau at gmail.com>

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to the web interface at https://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Name=URL-Normalize

SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

perldoc URL::Normalize

You can also look for information at:

AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation

http://annocpan.org/dist/URL-Normalize
CPAN Ratings

http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/URL-Normalize
Search CPAN

http://search.cpan.org/dist/URL-Normalize/

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the the Artistic License (2.0). You may obtain a copy of the full license at:

http://www.perlfoundation.org/artistic_license_2_0

Any use, modification, and distribution of the Standard or Modified Versions is governed by this Artistic License. By using, modifying or distributing the Package, you accept this license. Do not use, modify, or distribute the Package, if you do not accept this license.

If your Modified Version has been derived from a Modified Version made by someone other than you, you are nevertheless required to ensure that your Modified Version complies with the requirements of this license.

This license does not grant you the right to use any trademark, service mark, tradename, or logo of the Copyright Holder.

This license includes the non-exclusive, worldwide, free-of-charge patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import and otherwise transfer the Package with respect to any patent claims licensable by the Copyright Holder that are necessarily infringed by the Package. If you institute patent litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim) against any party alleging that the Package constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then this Artistic License to you shall terminate on the date that such litigation is filed.

Disclaimer of Warranty: THE PACKAGE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES. THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY YOUR LOCAL LAW. UNLESS REQUIRED BY LAW, NO COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTOR WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THE PACKAGE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

To install URL::Normalize, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm URL::Normalize

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install URL::Normalize

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

VERSION

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

CONSTRUCTORS

new( $url )

METHODS

url

get_url

URI

make_canonical

remove_dot_segments

remove_directory_index

sort_query_parameters

remove_duplicate_query_parameters

remove_empty_query_parameters

remove_empty_query

remove_fragment

remove_fragments

remove_duplicate_slashes

remove_social_query_parameters

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

BUGS

SUPPORT

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Module Install Instructions