HTML::PullParser(3)

✨ NAME ✨

HTML::PullParser — Alternative HTML::Parser interface

Okay so this is the HTML::PullParser(3) page from the User Contributed Perl Documentation crew 🫶, and it’s here to make pulling tokens out of HTML feel less like a chore and more like a vibe. It’s the alternative interface to HTML::Parser — literally the pull-parser bestie. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

        use HTML::PullParser;

        $p = HTML::PullParser->new(file => "index.html",
                                   start => 'event, tagname, @attr',
                                   end   => 'event, tagname',
                                   ignore_elements => [qw(script style)],
                                  ) || die "Can't open: $!";
        while (my $token = $p->get_token) {
            #...do something with $token
        }

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

HTML::PullParser is the alternative interface to the HTML::Parser class. It basically turns HTML::Parser inside out, which is iconic. You associate a file — or any IO::Handle object or string — with the parser at construction time, and then you repeatedly call $parser->get_token to obtain the tags and text found in the parsed document. The loop is the main character. ✨

The following methods are provided:

• $p = HTML::PullParser->new( file => $file, %options )
• $p = HTML::PullParser->new( doc => \$doc, %options )

A HTML::PullParser can be made to parse from either a file or a literal document based on whether the file or doc option is passed to the parser’s constructor. Choose your fighter. 🎀

The file passed in can either be a file name or a file handle object. If a file name is passed and it can’t be opened for reading, then the constructor will return an undefined value and $! will tell you why it failed. Otherwise, the argument is taken to be some object that the HTML::PullParser can read() from when it needs more data. The stream will be read() until EOF, but not closed. 🚨

A doc can be passed plain or as a reference to a scalar. If a reference is passed, then the value of this scalar should not be changed before all tokens have been extracted. Leave that scalar alone until the token situation is fully resolved, bestie. 🙈

Next, the information to be returned for the different token types must be set up. This is done by simply associating an argspec (as defined in HTML::Parser) with the events you have an interest in. For instance, if you want start tokens to be reported as the string 'S' followed by the tagname and the attributes, you might pass a start-option like this:

              $p = HTML::PullParser->new(
                     doc   => $document_to_parse,
                     start => '"S", tagname, @attr',
                     end   => '"E", tagname',
                   );

At last, other HTML::Parser options, like ignore_tags and unbroken_text, can be passed in. Note that you should not use the event_h options to set up parser handlers. That would confuse the inner logic of HTML::PullParser, and we do not stan chaos in the parser internals. 💀

• $token = $p->get_token — This method returns the next token found in the HTML document, or undef at the end of the document. The token comes back as an array reference. The content of this array matches the argspec you set up during HTML::PullParser construction. When it’s done, it gives you undef — a quiet exit, no dramatic speech. 😭
• $p->unget_token( @tokens ) — If you find out you have read too many tokens, you can push them back, so that they are returned again the next time $p->get_token is called. Token uno-reverse, but make it legal. 🔥

🐚 EXAMPLES 🐚

The eg/hform script shows how we might parse the form section of HTML::Documents using HTML::PullParser. Actual example script behavior, we love to see it. 🧚

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• HTML::Parser
• HTML::TokeParser

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright 1998-2001 Gisle Aas.

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

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And that’s the whole HTML::PullParser(3) situation, bestie 🫶. The footer energy is perl v5.42.0, dated 2026-06-08, page HTML::PullParser(3) — go pull those tokens and slay. 💖🎀