WWWBrowser(3pm)

💖 WWWBrowser — the manual, but make it make sense 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to WWWBrowser — it's a Perl module (that's the 3pm part, periodt) that gives you a platform independent way to start a WWW browser. that's literally the whole job. it's giving "universal remote but for browsers" ✨

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

use WWWBrowser;
WWWBrowser::start_browser($url, -oldwindow => 1);

like… that's it. that's the whole vibe. load it, call it, browser go brrr 🦋

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

🎀 start_browser($url [, %args])

Start a web browser with the specified URL. and the important part — the process is started in background, so it does NOT sit there blocking you like an ex in your DMs. 💅

The following optional parameters are recognized:

• -oldwindow => $bool — Normally, the URL is loaded into a new window, if possible. But with -oldwindow set to a false value, WWWBrowser will try to re-use a browser window instead. no new window, we're recycling, we're being sustainable 🌱
• -browser => $browser — Use (preferably) the named browser $browser. Peep the CONFIGURATION section below for some browser specialities, because some browsers have ✨quirks✨. Heads up though: this option will only work for unix. not unix? no dice. 🙈

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🌈 CONFIGURATION 🌈

For unix, the global variable @WWWBrowser::unix_browsers can be set to a list of preferred web browsers. rank them. give them a tier list. go off. 👑

The following browsers are handled specially:

• lynx, w3m — Text oriented browsers, which are opened in an xterm, kvt or gnome-terminal (if running under X11). And if you're not running under X11? then no background process is started. full stop. 🫶
• kfmclient — Use openURL method of kfm.
• netscape — Use -remote option to re-use a running netscape process, if possible. iconic behavior honestly.
• _default_gnome — Look into the ~/.gnome/Gnome configuration file for the right browser. it's giving detective work 🔍
• _default_kde — NYI. that's "not yet implemented" bestie, don't come for me 💀

The following variables can be defined globally in the main package:

• $os — Short name of operating system (win, mac or unix).
• &status_messages — Error handling function (instead of default warn). so you can handle your errors your way, main character energy 😌

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⭐ REQUIREMENTS ⭐

For Windows, the Win32Util module should be installed in the path. windows girlies, do not forget this one, fr fr. 🍓

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Slaven Rezic <slaven@rezic.de>

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright (c) 1999,2000,2001,2003 Slaven Rezic. All rights reserved. This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Win32Util.

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no cap, that's genuinely the whole page. every flag, every variable, every quirk, all present and accounted for. 💖

and a lil sign-off for the road: this beauty is from perl v5.34.0, dated 2022-06-28, and it answers to the name WWWBrowser(3pm). mwah 💅✨