WWW::Shorten - Interface to URL shortening sites.
use WWW::Shorten 'Linkz'; use WWW::Shorten 'MakeAShorterLink'; use WWW::Shorten 'Metamark'; use WWW::Shorten 'NotLong'; use WWW::Shorten 'OneShortLink'; use WWW::Shorten 'Shorl'; use WWW::Shorten 'TinyClick'; use WWW::Shorten 'TinyLink'; use WWW::Shorten 'TinyURL'; # Individual modules have have their # own syntactic variations. # See the documentation for the particular # module you intend to use for details, trips # and traps. $short_url = makeashorterlink($long_url); $long_url = makealongerlink($short_url); # If you don't like the function names: use WWW::Shorten 'Metamark', ':short'; $short_url = short_link( $long_url ); $long_url = long_link( $short_url );
A Perl interface to URL shortening sites. These sites maintain databases of long URLs, each of which has a unique identifier.
The function makeashorterlink will call the relevant web site passing it your long URL and will return the shorter version.
makeashorterlink
The function makealongerlink does the reverse. makealongerlink will accept as an argument either the full shortened URL or just the identifier.
makealongerlink
If anything goes wrong, then either function will return undef.
undef
Called when the module is used. Loads the correct sub-module
use
makeashorterlink, makealongerlink
Or, if you specify :short on the import line, you instead get short_link and long_link. If you explicitly want the default set, use :default.
:short
short_link
long_link
:default
Actually these functions are exported from the relevant subclass.
A very simple program called shorten is supplied in the distribution's bin folder. This program takes a URL and gives you a shortened version of it.
Adam Kessel wrote shorlfilter, a program that uses WWW::Shorten to filter a file, converting long URLs to short ones.
WWW::Shorten
http://bostoncoop.net/adam/shorlfilter
There is also a bin directory in this distribution which contains a sample program.
The URL-shortening industry is pretty volatile. Many sites exist for a while and then go away. The most famous of those is probably Make A Shorter Link (the site that originally inspired this suite of modules). MASL has been acquired by TinyURL.com and no longer exists.
Here is a list of sites that were once supported by this module and are no longer with us:
See Joshua Schachter's blog entry at http://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners.html for some very interesting discussion on some problems that can be caused by the volatility of this part of the web industry.
WWW::MakeAShorterLink is what this module was originally based upon. That module is obsoleted by WWW::Shorten::MakeAShorterLink, one of the many subclasses of WWW::Shorten. Of course, with the demise of Make A Shorter Link, neither the obsolete module nor it's replacement are of any use.
CGI::Shorten provides building blocks for you to create your own URL shortening service. It provides routines to shoretn a URL, lengthen one, and it keeps a store. Nice and easy.
Dave Cross for WWW::MakeAShorterLink
Alex Page for the original LWP hacking on which Dave based his code.
Simon Batistoni for giving the makealongerlink idea to Dave.
Eric Hammond for writing the NotLong variant.
Shashank Tripathi <shank@shank.com> for providing both SnipURL.com and advice on the module.
Kevin Gilbertson (Gilby) supplied information on the TinyURL API.
Matt Felsen (mattf) wanted shorter function names.
Ask Bjoern Hansen for providing both Metamark.net and advice on the module.
Martin Thurn for helping me notice a bug and for a suggestion regarding MASL.pm.
Jon and William (jon and wjr at smlnk.com respectively) for providing SmLnk.com.
P J Goodwin for providing the code for WWW::Shorten::OneShortLink.
And especial thanks to all providers of these services.
Support for this module is supplied using the CPAN RT system via the web or email:
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=WWW-Shorten ( shorter URL: http://xrl.us/rfb ) bug-www-shorten@rt.cpan.org
This makes it much easier for me to track things and thus means your problem is less likely to be neglected.
WWW::Shorten::NotLong copyright (c) Eric Hammond <ehammond@thinksome.com>.
Other modules copyright (c) Magnum Solutions Ltd., 2007. All rights reserved.
This module is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Original Iain Truskett <spoon@cpan.org>
Based on WWW::MakeAShorterLink by Dave Cross <dave@mag-sol.com>
In 2004 Dave Cross took over the maintenance of this distribution following the death of Iain Truskett.
perl, CGI::Shorten.
To install WWW::Shorten, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm WWW::Shorten
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install WWW::Shorten
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.