WWW::Mechanize follow

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

I'm trying to scrape a web page with links that lead to links that lead to more links.

# get the first level of links
  my @links = $mech->find_all_images(url_regex => qr/jpg$/);

# follow each link to the next link
  foreach (@links) { $mech->follow_link ( $_->url() )};
[download]

When I run this, I get the following error:

Odd number of elements in hash assignment at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_per
+l/5.8.6/WWW/Mechanize.pm line 573.
[download]

I've done a super search and I've not yet been able to find any clues yet. I haven't a clue what I'm doing wrong. Thanks for any pointers or links.

Thanks,
Mike

Comment on WWW::Mechanize follow_link() Select or Download Code

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Re: WWW::Mechanize follow_link() by johnnywang (Priest) on Sep 13, 2005 at 06:32 UTC
The method follow_link takes a hash: `$mech->follow_link( text => "download", n => 3 )` [download] you are getting your error since you're passing one element: the url. In fact, you don't need to use follow_link, just use: `$mech->get($_->url);` [download] If you're trying to download the images (looks like it from your regex), you may simply do: `$mech->mirror($_->url_abs, "some_local_file_name");` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: WWW::Mechanize follow_link() by friedo (Prior) on Sep 13, 2005 at 06:34 UTC
`follow_link` takes named parameters, not a single URL, but there's no need to use it if you know the URL already. Just use `$mech->get( $_->url );`	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: WWW::Mechanize follow_link() by cajun (Chaplain) on Sep 13, 2005 at 06:40 UTC
Thanks johnnywang and friedo. That gives me some clues, but, these are not the last links in the chain. They are the second link in a chain of 3 or 4 links. But this definately helps. Thanks, Mike	[reply]