XML::Feed(3pm)

📦

version 1.0.0 · 6 versions

1.0.0 · ubuntu stonking (latest)
1.0.0 · alpine 3.24
0.65 · fedora 43
1.0.0 · fedora 44
0.63 · debian bookworm, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble
0.65 · debian trixie, ubuntu resolute

💖 XML::Feed(3pm) — the manual page, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, pull up a chair, we're reading a man page together and honestly? it's a good one. this is <purple>XML::Feed(3pm)</purple> from the User Contributed Perl Documentation crew, and it's about to be your new hyperfixation. no cap. 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

XML::Feed — syndication feed parser and auto-discovery. it literally does both. main character energy fr. 👑

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

bestie here's the vibe in code form, copy it exactly, don't retype it from memory:

use XML::Feed;
my $feed = XML::Feed->parse(URI->new('http://example.com/atom.xml'))
    or die XML::Feed->errstr;
print $feed->title, "\n";
for my $entry ($feed->entries) {
}

## Find all of the syndication feeds on a given page, using
## auto-discovery.
my @feeds = XML::Feed->find_feeds('http://example.com/');

look at that. clean. slay. 💅

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

XML::Feed is a syndication feed parser for both RSS and Atom feeds. it also implements feed auto-discovery for finding feeds, given a URI. it's giving two jobs and doing both flawlessly, honestly iconic. ✨

here's the format roster it fucks with (affectionate):

RSS 0.91
RSS 1.0
RSS 2.0
Atom

the whole goal of XML::Feed is to give you one unified API for parsing and using all these different syndication formats. because babes — the different flavors of RSS and Atom handle data in completely different ways: date handling, summaries and content, escaping and quoting, etc. etc. etc. 😭

this module tries to remove those differences by wrapping the formats and the classes that implement them (XML::RSS and XML::Atom::Feed). for example! dates are handled differently in each of the formats above. so to give you a unified API for date handling, XML::Feed converts all date formats transparently into DateTime objects, which it then hands back to the caller. it's giving translator bestie, we love a middleman who actually helps. 🫶

🌸 USAGE 🌸

🧚 `XML::Feed->new($format)`

🧚 `XML::Feed->new($format, \%args)`

creates a new empty XML::Feed object using the format $format. look:

$feed = XML::Feed->new('Atom');
$feed = XML::Feed->new('RSS');
$feed = XML::Feed->new('RSS', version => '0.91');

an optional hashref of arguments can be provided as the last parameter:

my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new;
$ua->timeout(30);
$feed = XML::Feed->new('Atom', { useragent => $ua });

currently supported arguments, bestie, listen up:

useragent — an LWP::UserAgent object (or subclass) to use for fetching feeds via URI. if you don't provide one, a default UserAgent will be created when needed. it's got a whole backup plan, we stan a prepared queen. 💅

🌟 `XML::Feed->parse($stream)`

🌟 `XML::Feed->parse($stream, \%args)`

🌟 `XML::Feed->parse($stream, $format)`

🌟 `XML::Feed->parse($stream, $format, \%args)`

parses a syndication feed identified by $stream and returns an XML::Feed object. $stream can be any one of the following:

Scalar reference — a reference to string containing the XML body of the feed.
Filehandle — an open filehandle from which the feed XML will be read.
File name — the name of a file containing the feed XML.
URI object — a URI from which the feed XML will be retrieved.

$format lets you override format guessing. (yes, it guesses. it's psychic like that. 🔮)

an optional hashref of arguments can be provided as the last parameter:

my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new;
$ua->timeout(30);
$feed = XML::Feed->parse('https://example.com/feed', { useragent => $ua });

currently supported arguments:

useragent — an LWP::UserAgent object (or subclass) to use for fetching feeds via URI. if not provided, a default UserAgent will be created when needed. (same deal as before, she's consistent 💖)

💫 `XML::Feed->get_file($filename)`

gets a feed from a file. simple! iconic!

💫 `CML::Feed->get_fh($fh)`

gets a feed from pre-opened filehandle.

ngl bestie, that CML::Feed is literally how it's written in the original manual page. i am not fixing it. i am not touching it. do not come for me, take it up with the manpage. 💀

💫 `XML::Feed->get_uri($uri)`

gets a feed from a URI.

🔎 `XML::Feed->find_feeds($uri)`

given a URI $uri, use auto-discovery to find all of the feeds linked from that page (using <link> tags).

returns a list of feed URIs. she's a detective and she found them all, periodt. 🕵️♀️✨

🔎 `XML::Feed->identify_format(\$xml)`

given the xml of a feed, return what format it is in, with "Atom" or "RSS" for all versions of RSS. note: you pass in a scalar ref to the xml string. don't forget the ref or she'll be confused and honestly same. 🙈

🔄 `$feed->convert($format)`

converts the XML::Feed object into the $format format, and returns the new object.

🔄 `$feed->splice($other_feed)`

splices in all of the entries from the feed $other_feed into $feed, skipping posts that are already in $feed. no duplicates allowed, she has boundaries. 🚫💖

🏷️ `$feed->format`

returns the format of the feed ("Atom", or some version of "RSS").

🏷️ `$feed->title([ $title ])`

the title of the feed/channel.

🏷️ `$feed->base([ $base ])`

the url base of the feed/channel.

🏷️ `$feed->link([ $uri ])`

the permalink of the feed/channel.

🏷️ `$feed->tagline([ $tagline ])`

the description or tagline of the feed/channel.

🏷️ `$feed->description([ $description ])`

alias for $feed->tagline. (same girl, different name ✨)

🏷️ `$feed->author([ $author ])`

the author of the feed/channel.

🏷️ `$feed->language([ $language ])`

the language of the feed.

🏷️ `$feed->copyright([ $copyright ])`

the copyright notice of the feed. protect the intellectual property bestie ©️

🕐 `$feed->modified([ $modified ])`

a DateTime object representing the last-modified date of the feed.

if present, $modified should be a DateTime object. not optional-optional, like, actually do this.

🏷️ `$feed->generator([ $generator ])`

the generator of the feed.

🔗 `$feed->self_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom Self-link of the feed:

<http://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/warning/MissingAtomSelfLink.html>

a string. that's it, that's the whole vibe.

📚 `$feed->entries`

a list of the entries/items in the feed. returns an array containing XML::Feed::Entry objects.

📚 `$feed->items`

a synonym (alias) for "$feed->entries". two names, one queen. 👑

➕ `$feed->add_entry($entry)`

adds an entry to the feed. $entry should be an XML::Feed::Entry object in the correct format for the feed. format match or it's not vibing, iykyk.

📝 `$feed->as_xml`

returns an XML representation of the feed, in the format determined by the current format of the $feed object.

🕵️ `$feed->useragent([ $ua ])`

get or set the LWP::UserAgent object used for fetching feeds.

if called without arguments, returns the current UserAgent object, creating a default one if it doesn't exist. (she'll make one for you, she's generous like that.)

if called with an LWP::UserAgent object (or subclass), sets it as the UserAgent for this feed.

my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new;
$ua->timeout(30);
$feed->useragent($ua);

# Later, retrieve it
my $current_ua = $feed->useragent;

🔗 `$feed->first_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom First-link for feed paging and archiving (RFC 5005).

<http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5005>

🔗 `$feed->last_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom Last-link for feed paging and archiving.

🔗 `$feed->next_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom Next-link for feed paging and archiving.

🔗 `$feed->previous_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom Previous-link for feed paging and archiving.

🔗 `$feed->current_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom Current-link for feed paging and archiving.

🔗 `$feed->next_archive_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom Next-link for feed paging and archiving.

🔗 `$feed->prev_archive_link ([ $uri ])`

the Atom Prev-Archive-link for feed paging and archiving.

🌈 PACKAGE VARIABLES 🌈

💜 `$XML::Feed::Format::RSS::PREFERRED_PARSER`

if you want to use another RSS parser class than XML::RSS (the default), you can change the class by setting the $PREFERRED_PARSER variable in the XML::Feed::Format::RSS package.

$XML::Feed::Format::RSS::PREFERRED_PARSER = "XML::RSS::LibXML";

Note: this will only work for parsing feeds, not creating feeds. know the limits bestie 🫶

Note: only "XML::RSS::LibXML" version 0.3004 is known to work at the moment. specific queen, specific version. 💅

💜 `$XML::Feed::MULTIPLE_ENCLOSURES`

although the RSS specification states that there can be at most one enclosure per item, some feeds break this rule. rude of them honestly. 😤

if this variable is set, then "XML::Feed" captures all of them and makes them available as a list.

otherwise, it returns the last enclosure parsed. (last one wins, bye to the rest 👋)

Note: "XML::RSS" version 1.44 is needed for this to work. no version 1.44, no list, sorry bestie.

🧪 VALID FEEDS 🧪

for reference, this cgi script will create valid, albeit nonsensical feeds (according to "http://feedvalidator.org" anyway) for Atom 1.0 and RSS 0.90, 0.91, 1.0 and 2.0. nonsensical but valid? that's the dream combo fr fr. 🔥

#!perl -w

use strict;
use CGI;
use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);
use DateTime;
use XML::Feed;

my $cgi  = CGI->new;
my @args = ( $cgi->param('format') // "Atom" );
push @args, ( version => $cgi->param('version') ) if $cgi->param('version');

my $feed = XML::Feed->new(@args);
$feed->id("http://".time.rand()."/");
$feed->title('Test Feed');
$feed->link($cgi->url);
$feed->self_link($cgi->url( -query => 1, -full => 1, -rewrite => 1) );
$feed->modified(DateTime->now);

my $entry = XML::Feed::Entry->new();
$entry->id("http://".time.rand()."/");
$entry->link("http://example.com");
$entry->title("Test entry");
$entry->summary("Test summary");
$entry->content("Foo");
$entry->modified(DateTime->now);
$entry->author('test@example.com (Testy McTesterson)');
$feed->add_entry($entry);

my $mime = ("Atom" eq $feed->format) ? "application/atom+xml" : "application/rss+xml";
print $cgi->header($mime);
print $feed->as_xml;

📜 LICENSE 📜

XML::Feed is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. free is free bestie, redistribute away. 🕊️

👑 AUTHOR & COPYRIGHT 👑

🆘 SUPPORT 🆘

for support, contact the XML::Feed mailing list — xml-feed@perlhacks.com. they're your people now. email them. 🫂

💻 SOURCE CODE 💻

the latest version of XML::Feed can be found at

http://github.com/davorg/XML-Feed

go. clone it. star it. that's your homework. ⭐

okay and that's the whole page bestie!! this was XML::Feed(3pm), documented under perl v5.40.1, dated 2026-02-21 — like, the future. 💫 thanks for reading the whole thing with me, you ate that fr fr. now go parse a feed and slay 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶

📦 where this page comes from

ubuntu stonking: libxml-feed-perl 1.0.0+dfsg-1 · Artistic-1.0-Perl OR GPL-1.0-or-later
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-11-03: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms

XML::Feed(3pm)

💖 XML::Feed(3pm) — the manual page, but make it cute 💖

✨ NAME ✨

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

🌸 USAGE 🌸

🧚 XML::Feed->new($format)

🧚 XML::Feed->new($format, \%args)

🌟 XML::Feed->parse($stream)

🌟 XML::Feed->parse($stream, \%args)

🌟 XML::Feed->parse($stream, $format)

🌟 XML::Feed->parse($stream, $format, \%args)

💫 XML::Feed->get_file($filename)

💫 CML::Feed->get_fh($fh)

💫 XML::Feed->get_uri($uri)

🔎 XML::Feed->find_feeds($uri)

🔎 XML::Feed->identify_format(\$xml)

🔄 $feed->convert($format)

🔄 $feed->splice($other_feed)

🏷️ $feed->format

🏷️ $feed->title([ $title ])

🏷️ $feed->base([ $base ])

🏷️ $feed->link([ $uri ])

🏷️ $feed->tagline([ $tagline ])

🏷️ $feed->description([ $description ])

🏷️ $feed->author([ $author ])

🏷️ $feed->language([ $language ])

🏷️ $feed->copyright([ $copyright ])

🕐 $feed->modified([ $modified ])

🏷️ $feed->generator([ $generator ])

🔗 $feed->self_link ([ $uri ])

📚 $feed->entries

📚 $feed->items

➕ $feed->add_entry($entry)

📝 $feed->as_xml

🕵️ $feed->useragent([ $ua ])

🔗 $feed->first_link ([ $uri ])

🔗 $feed->last_link ([ $uri ])

🔗 $feed->next_link ([ $uri ])

🔗 $feed->previous_link ([ $uri ])

🔗 $feed->current_link ([ $uri ])

🔗 $feed->next_archive_link ([ $uri ])

🔗 $feed->prev_archive_link ([ $uri ])