Strip HTML, while preserving layout, with core(-ish) modules

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

I'm embarrassed I don't know the answer to this since I work on this stuff all the time. I suspect there is already something that does just what I want which is to turn HTML into plain text while maintaining some semblance of layout semantics, e.g.-

List item

Would become
* List item
and links would be shown with their href attribute. I have no need to handle tables with this.

So, please forgive me if I'm being a dummy. Script (to look at) or package for this? I can do it from scratch but would rather not if it's already out there.

Comment on Strip HTML, while preserving layout, with core(-ish) modules

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Re: Strip HTML, while preserving layout, with core(-ish) modules by oko1 (Deacon) on Apr 08, 2008 at 22:47 UTC
Non-Perlish, but - I usually use either 'lynx -dump <filename>' if I don't care about layout, and 'w3m -dump <filename>' if I do. Unfortunately, the latter does not handle the links in the way you've asked, while the former does. -- Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. -- HG Wells	[reply]
Re^2: Strip HTML, while preserving layout, with core(-ish) modules by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Apr 08, 2008 at 23:02 UTC
Thanks! (The first draft of my question contained a reference to lynx though I didn't play around with it yet.)	[reply]
Re: Strip HTML, while preserving layout, with core(-ish) modules by ww (Archbishop) on Apr 08, 2008 at 22:43 UTC
Since I can't think of anything appropriate that's core, some "core-ish" modules may have to do. If you're on w32, using ActiveState, `ppm search HTML` HTML-Content-Extractor (hyphens OK, not "::"), HTML-TagReader, and YAPE-HTML are just a few that may be relevant, but I suspect you'll have to code your own semantic conversions. If on a nixish OS, search CPAN, likewise for "HTML."	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Strip HTML, while preserving layout, with core(-ish) modules by perrin (Chancellor) on Apr 09, 2008 at 13:22 UTC
I've used a couple of random html2txt perl scripts I found through Google. They were okay, but formatting wasn't great. I think w3m will do a better job.	[reply]