How can I change the hostname in a URL using Perl? - perl

Question

I have some URLs like http://anytext.a.abs.com
In these, 'anytext' is the data that is dynamic. Rest of the URL will remain same in every case.
I'm using the following code:
$url = "http://anytext.a.abs.com";
my $request = new HTTP::Request 'GET', $url;
my $response = $ua->request($request);
if ($response->is_success)
{
function......;
}
Now, how can I parse a URL that has dynamic data in it?

Answer 1

Not sure but is this close to what you're after?:
for my $host qw(anytext someothertext andanother) {
my $url = "http://$host.a.abs.com";
my $request = new HTTP::Request 'GET', $url;
my $response = $ua->request($request);
if ($response->is_success)
{
function......;
}
}

Answer 2

Something like this maybe?
Otherwise, you can use the URI class to do url manipulation.
my $protocol = 'http://'
my $url_end = '.a.abs.com';
$url = $protocol . "anytext" . $url_end;
my $request = new HTTP::Request 'GET', $url;
my $response = $ua->request($request);
if ($response->is_success)
{
function......;
}

Answer 3

I think this is probably enough:
# The regex specifies a string preceded by two slashes and all non-dots
my ( $host_name ) = $url =~ m{//([^.]+)};
And if you want to change it:
$url =~ s|^http://\K([^.]+)|$host_name_I_want|;
Or even:
substr( $url, index( $url, $host_name ), length( $host_name ), $host_name_I_want );
This will expand the segment sufficiently to accommodate $host_name_I_want.

Answer 4

Well, like you would parse any other data: Use the information you have about the structure.
You have a protocol part, followed by "colon slash slash", then the host followed by optional "colon port number" and an optional path on the host.
So ... build a little parser that extracts the information you are after.
And frankly, if you are only hunting for "what exactely is 'anytext' here?", a RegEx of this form should help (untested; use as guidance):
$url =~ m/http\:\/\/(.*).a.abs.com/;
$subdomain = $1;
$do_something('with', $subdomain);
Sorry if I grossly misunderstood the problem at hand. Please explain what you mean with 'how can I parse a URL that has dynamic data in it?' in that case :)