diff --git a/Doc/lib/liburllib.tex b/Doc/lib/liburllib.tex index 89957985b2e..60e87b54d44 100644 --- a/Doc/lib/liburllib.tex +++ b/Doc/lib/liburllib.tex @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ operations are available. It defines the following public functions: -\begin{funcdesc}{urlopen}{url} +\begin{funcdesc}{urlopen}{url\optional{, data}} Open a network object denoted by a URL for reading. If the URL does not have a scheme identifier, or if it has \file{file:} as its scheme identifier, this opens a local file; otherwise it opens a socket to a @@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ is raised. If all went well, a file-like object is returned. This supports the following methods: \method{read()}, \method{readline()}, \method{readlines()}, \method{fileno()}, \method{close()} and \method{info()}. -Except for the last one, these methods have the same interface as for + +Except for the \method{info()} method, +these methods have the same interface as for file objects --- see section \ref{bltin-file-objects} in this manual. (It is not a built-in file object, however, so it can't be used at those few places where a true built-in file object is @@ -36,6 +38,13 @@ The \method{info()} method returns an instance of the class server, if the protocol uses such headers (currently the only supported protocol that uses this is HTTP). See the description of the \module{mimetools}\refstmodindex{mimetools} module. + +If the \var{url} uses the \file{http:} scheme identifier, the optional +\var{data} argument may be given to specify a \code{POST} request +(normally the request type is \code{GET}). The \var{data} argument +must in standard \file{application/x-www-form-urlencoded} format; +see the \function{urlencode()} function below. + \end{funcdesc} \begin{funcdesc}{urlretrieve}{url} @@ -55,18 +64,19 @@ Clear the cache that may have been built up by previous calls to \function{urlretrieve()}. \end{funcdesc} -\begin{funcdesc}{quote}{string\optional{, addsafe}} +\begin{funcdesc}{quote}{string\optional{, safe}} Replace special characters in \var{string} using the \samp{\%xx} escape. Letters, digits, and the characters \character{_,.-} are never quoted. -The optional \var{addsafe} parameter specifies additional characters +The optional \var{safe} parameter specifies additional characters that should not be quoted --- its default value is \code{'/'}. Example: \code{quote('/\~connolly/')} yields \code{'/\%7econnolly/'}. \end{funcdesc} -\begin{funcdesc}{quote_plus}{string\optional{, addsafe}} +\begin{funcdesc}{quote_plus}{string\optional{, safe}} Like \function{quote()}, but also replaces spaces by plus signs, as -required for quoting HTML form values. +required for quoting HTML form values. Plus signs in the original +string are escaped unless they are included in \var{safe}. \end{funcdesc} \begin{funcdesc}{unquote}{string} @@ -80,6 +90,15 @@ Like \function{unquote()}, but also replaces plus signs by spaces, as required for unquoting HTML form values. \end{funcdesc} +\begin{funcdesc}{urlencode}{dict} +Convert a dictionary to a ``url-encoded'' string, suitable to pass to +\function{urlopen()} above as the optional \var{data} argument. This +is useful to pass a dictionary of form fields to a \code{POST} +request. The resulting string is a series of \var{key}=\var{value} +pairs separated by \code{&} characters, where both \var{key} and +\var{value} are quoted using \function{quote_plus()} above. +\end{funcdesc} + Restrictions: \begin{itemize}