HTML::Tree - overview of HTML::TreeBuilder et al

NAME

HTML::Tree - overview of HTML::TreeBuilder et al

SYNOPSIS

  use HTML::TreeBuilder;
  my $tree = HTML::TreeBuilder->new();
  $tree->parse_file($filename);
   #
   # Then do something with the tree, using HTML::Element
   # methods -- for example $tree->dump
   #
   # Then:
  $tree->delete;

DESCRIPTION

HTML-Tree is a suite of Perl modules for making parse trees out of HTML source. It consists of mainly two modules, whose documentation you should refer to: HTML::TreeBuilder and HTML::Element.

HTML::TreeBuilder is the module that builds the parse trees. (It uses HTML::Parser to do the work of breaking the HTML up into tokens.)

The tree that TreeBuilder builds for you is made up of objects of the class HTML::Element.

If you find that you do not properly understand the documentation for HTML::TreeBuilder and HTML::Element, it may be because you are unfamiliar with tree-shaped data structures, or with object-oriented modules in general. I have written some articles for The Perl Journal (www.tpj.com) that seek to provide that background: my article ``A User's View of Object-Oriented Modules'' in TPJ17; my article ``Trees'' in TPJ18; and my article ``Scanning HTML'' in TPJ19. The full text of those articles is contained in this distribution, as:

HTML::Tree::AboutObjects -- article: ``User's View of Object-Oriented Modules''

HTML::Tree::AboutTrees -- article: ``Trees''

HTML::Tree::Scanning -- article: ``Scanning HTML''

Readers already familiar with object-oriented modules and tree-shaped data structures should read just the last article. Readers without that background should read the first, then the second, and then the third.

SEE ALSO

the HTML::TreeBuilder manpage, the HTML::Element manpage, the HTML::Tagset manpage, the HTML::Parser manpage

the HTML::DOMbo manpage

The book Perl & LWP by me, Sean M. Burke, published by O'Reilly and Associates, 2002. ISBN: 0-596-00178-9

It has several chapters to do with HTML processing in general, and HTML-Tree specifically. There's more info at:

  http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perllwp/
  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596001789

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1995-1998 Gisle Aas; copyright 1999-2002 Sean M. Burke. (Except the articles contained in HTML::Tree::AboutObjects, HTML::Tree::AboutTrees, and HTML::Tree::Scanning, which are all copyright 2000 The Perl Journal.)

Except for those three TPJ articles, the whole HTML-Tree distribution, of which this file is a part, is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

Those three TPJ articles may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.

The programs and documentation in this dist are distributed in the hope that they will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

AUTHOR

Original HTML-Tree author Gisle Aas <gisle@aas.no>; current maintainer Sean M. Burke, <sburke@cpan.org>

 HTML::Tree - overview of HTML::TreeBuilder et al