Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID

Leudwinus has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello Fellow Monks,

I am trying to download the HTML of a URL which requires authentication (username and password). Using curl, I am able to successfully do this via:

curl https://example.com --cookie "session=536...035a" -o "HTML_output.txt"

where the session ID is the one I obtained via the browser's developer tools function.

I am trying to replicate this using a more "native" Perl approach and using the LWP module, I have the following code which allows me to get the HTML of a given URL that does not require any authentication:

use LWP;

my $url     = "https://example.com";
my $browser = LWP::UserAgent->new( );
my $resp    = $browser->get($url);

print $resp->content, "\n";
[download]

Is there a way using LWP (or some other module) to also include the session ID from the browser cookie?

Thank you in advance.

As a quick update, I have modified my code to use HTTP::Cookies::Netscape as follows:

use strict;
use warnings;
use LWP;
use HTTP::Cookies::Netscape;

my $url = "https://example.com";
my $cookie_jar = HTTP::Cookies::Netscape->new(
    file  => "/path/to/cookies.txt",
    );
my $browser = LWP::UserAgent->new( );
$browser->cookie_jar( $cookie_jar );
my $resp = $browser->get($url);

print $resp->content, "\n";
[download]

Unfortunately, when I run that, the response that comes back tells me that I still need to supply a proper username and password, even though my session is still valid on the browser. I used the Firefox add-on "cookies.txt" to download a cookies.txt file which looks like:

# Netscape HTTP Cookie File
.example.com    TRUE    /    TRUE    1984932267    session    5361...1
+329
[download]

Comment on Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID by Corion (Patriarch) on Nov 28, 2022 at 07:36 UTC
An easy way to get a start is by converting your Curl command to a Perl program using (my) Curl to Perl converter: `#!perl use strict; use warnings; use LWP::UserAgent; my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( 'send_te' => '0' ); my $r = HTTP::Request->new( 'GET' => 'https://example.com/', [ 'Accept' => '/', 'User-Agent' => 'curl/7.55.1', 'Cookie' => 'session=536...035a' ], ); my $res = $ua->request( $r, ':content_file' => 'HTML_output.txt' ); __END__ Created from curl command line curl https://example.com --cookie "session=536...035a" -o "HTML_output +.txt"` [download] I'm not sure if your Firefox stores its cookies in a `cookies.txt` file still or if it stores them in an SQLite database nowadays.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID by Leudwinus (Scribe) on Nov 28, 2022 at 23:50 UTC
Thank you, Corion for that example and link to your page which I have bookmarked! It looks like the content I need is then stored in `$res->{_content}`. I had to first install LWP::UserAgent and LWP::Protocol::https to get this to work though. I guess I need to get more familiar with the LWP, LWP::UserAgent and HTTP::Request modules. What is the difference between LWP::UserAgent and Mojo::UserAgent, the latter which was also suggested to me to try to solve this? Thanks again!	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID by Corion (Patriarch) on Nov 29, 2022 at 08:17 UTC
No - please use `$res->decoded_content` instead of reaching into the HTTP::Response hash. The difference between LWP::UserAgent and Mojo::UserAgent is mostly that LWP::UserAgent doesn't allow for parallel requests. Mojo::UserAgent is a bit more complex due to allowing for parallelism, but it also offers some more convenience stuff like handling JSON replies directly.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID by Leudwinus (Scribe) on Nov 29, 2022 at 22:29 UTC
Re: Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID by Discipulus (Canon) on Nov 29, 2022 at 11:43 UTC
Hello Leudwinus, I have started a new thread DBI DBD::SQLite unable to open Firefox cookies.sqlite database related to your original question, but starting from another point, you might be interested in it too. L* There are no rules, there are no thumbs.. Reinvent the wheel, then learn The Wheel; may be one day you reinvent one of THE WHEELS.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Using LWP (or some other module) to Dowload HTML with Cookie Session ID by Leudwinus (Scribe) on Nov 29, 2022 at 22:32 UTC
I saw that thread earlier today! I am following it as best I can. Apologies that I don't know enough yet to help you but I will be interested in what you find regarding interrogating Firefox cookies directly via SQLite.	[reply]
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