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.TH "MECHANIZE" "1" "Jan 17, 2020" "0.4.5" "mechanize"
.SH NAME
mechanize \- mechanize Documentation
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.sp
Stateful programmatic web browsing in Python. Browse pages programmatically
with easy HTML form filling and clicking of links.
.SH FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
.SS Contents
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%General\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Which version of Python do I need?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%What dependencies does mechanize need?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%What license does mechanize use?\fP
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Usage\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%I\(aqm not getting the HTML page I expected to see?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Is JavaScript supported?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%My HTTP response data is truncated?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Is there any example code?\fP
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Cookies\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Which HTTP cookie protocols does mechanize support?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%What about RFC 2109?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Why don\(aqt I have any cookies?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%My response claims to be empty, but I know it\(aqs not?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%What\(aqs the difference between the .load() and .revert() methods of CookieJar?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Is it threadsafe?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%How do I do X?\fP
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Forms\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%How do I figure out what control names and values to use?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%What do those \(aq*\(aq characters mean in the string representations of list controls?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%What do those parentheses (round brackets) mean in the string representations of list controls?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Why doesn\(aqt <some control> turn up in the data returned by .click*() when that control has non\-None value?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Why does mechanize not follow the HTML 4.0 / RFC 1866 standards for RADIO and multiple\-selection SELECT controls?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Why does .click() ing on a button not work for me?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%How do I change INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN field values (for example, to emulate the effect of JavaScript code)?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%I\(aqm having trouble debugging my code.\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%I have a control containing a list of integers.  How do I select the one whose value is nearest to the one I want?\fP
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Miscellaneous\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%I want to see what my web browser is doing?\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%JavaScript is messing up my web\-scraping. What do I do?\fP
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS General
.SS Which version of Python do I need?
.sp
mechanize works on all python versions, python 2 (>= 2.7) and 3 (>= 3.5).
.SS What dependencies does mechanize need?
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
html5lib

.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS What license does mechanize use?
.sp
mechanize is licensed under the \fI\%BSD\-3\-clause\fP license.
.SS Usage
.SS I\(aqm not getting the HTML page I expected to see?
.sp
See debugging\&.
.SS Is JavaScript supported?
.sp
No, sorry.  See \fI\%JavaScript is messing up my web\-scraping. What do I do?\fP
.SS My HTTP response data is truncated?
.sp
\fImechanize.Browser\(aqs\fP response objects support the \fI\&.seek()\fP method, and
can still be used after \fI\&.close()\fP has been called.  Response data is not
fetched until it is needed, so navigation away from a URL before fetching all
of the response will truncate it.  Call \fIresponse.get_data()\fP before navigation
if you don\(aqt want that to happen.
.SS Is there any example code?
.sp
Look in the \fIexamples/\fP directory.  Note that the examples on the forms
page are executable as\-is.  Contributions of example code
would be very welcome!
.SS Cookies
.SS Which HTTP cookie protocols does mechanize support?
.sp
Netscape and \fI\%RFC 2965\fP\&.  RFC 2965
handling is switched off by default.
.SS What about RFC 2109?
.sp
RFC 2109 cookies are currently parsed as Netscape cookies, and treated
by default as RFC 2965 cookies thereafter if RFC 2965 handling is enabled,
or as Netscape cookies otherwise.
.SS Why don\(aqt I have any cookies?
.sp
See cookies\&.
.SS My response claims to be empty, but I know it\(aqs not?
.sp
Did you call \fIresponse.read()\fP (e.g., in a debug statement), then forget
that all the data has already been read?  In that case, you may want to use
\fImechanize.response_seek_wrapper\fP\&.  \fImechanize.Browser\fP always returns
seekable responses, so it\(aqs not necessary to
use this explicitly in that case.
.SS What\(aqs the difference between the \fI\&.load()\fP and \fI\&.revert()\fP methods of \fICookieJar\fP?
.sp
\fI\&.load()\fP \fIappends\fP cookies from a file.  \fI\&.revert()\fP discards all
existing cookies held by the \fICookieJar\fP first (but it won\(aqt lose any
existing cookies if the loading fails).
.SS Is it threadsafe?
.sp
See threading\&.
.SS How do I do \fIX\fP?
.sp
Refer to the API documentation in browser_api\&.
.SS Forms
.SS How do I figure out what control names and values to use?
.sp
\fIprint(form)\fP is usually all you need.  In your code, things like the
\fIHTMLForm.items\fP attribute of \fBmechanize.HTMLForm\fP instances can be
useful to inspect forms at runtime.  Note that it\(aqs possible to use item labels
instead of item names, which can be useful — use the \fIby_label\fP arguments to
the various methods, and the \fI\&.get_value_by_label()\fP / \fI\&.set_value_by_label()\fP
methods on \fIListControl\fP\&.
.SS What do those \fI\(aq*\(aq\fP characters mean in the string representations of list controls?
.sp
A \fI*\fP next to an item means that item is selected.
.SS What do those parentheses (round brackets) mean in the string representations of list controls?
.sp
Parentheses \fI(foo)\fP around an item mean that item is disabled.
.SS Why doesn\(aqt \fI<some control>\fP turn up in the data returned by \fI\&.click*()\fP when that control has non\-\fINone\fP value?
.sp
Either the control is disabled, or it is not successful for some other
reason. \(aqSuccessful\(aq (see \fI\%HTML 4
specification\fP)
means that the control will cause data to get sent to the server.
.SS Why does mechanize not follow the HTML 4.0 / RFC 1866 standards for \fIRADIO\fP and multiple\-selection \fISELECT\fP controls?
.sp
Because by default, it follows browser behaviour when setting the
initially\-selected items in list controls that have no items explicitly
selected in the HTML.
.SS Why does \fI\&.click()\fP ing on a button not work for me?
.sp
Clicking on a \fIRESET\fP button doesn\(aqt do anything, by design \- this is a
library for web automation, not an interactive browser.  Even in an
interactive browser, clicking on \fIRESET\fP sends nothing to the server,
so there is little point in having \fI\&.click()\fP do anything special here.
.sp
Clicking on a \fIBUTTON TYPE=BUTTON\fP doesn\(aqt do anything either, also by
design.  This time, the reason is that that \fIBUTTON\fP is only in the
HTML standard so that one can attach JavaScript callbacks to its
events.  Their execution may result in information getting sent back to
the server.  mechanize, however, knows nothing about these callbacks,
so it can\(aqt do anything useful with a click on a \fIBUTTON\fP whose type is
\fIBUTTON\fP\&.
.sp
Generally, JavaScript may be messing things up in all kinds of ways.
See \fI\%JavaScript is messing up my web\-scraping. What do I do?\fP\&.
.SS How do I change \fIINPUT TYPE=HIDDEN\fP field values (for example, to emulate the effect of JavaScript code)?
.sp
As with any control, set the control\(aqs \fIreadonly\fP attribute false.
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
form.find_control("foo").readonly = False # allow changing .value of control foo
form.set_all_readonly(False) # allow changing the .value of all controls
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS I\(aqm having trouble debugging my code.
.sp
See debugging\&.
.SS I have a control containing a list of integers.  How do I select the one whose value is nearest to the one I want?
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
import bisect
def closest_int_value(form, ctrl_name, value):
    values = map(int, [item.name for item in form.find_control(ctrl_name).items])
    return str(values[bisect.bisect(values, value) \- 1])

form["distance"] = [closest_int_value(form, "distance", 23)]
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS Miscellaneous
.SS I want to see what my web browser is doing?
.sp
Use the developer tools for your browser (you may have to install them first).
These provide excellent views into all HTTP requests/responses in the browser.
.SS JavaScript is messing up my web\-scraping. What do I do?
.sp
JavaScript is used in web pages for many purposes \-\- for example: creating
content that was not present in the page at load time, submitting or
filling in parts of forms in response to user actions, setting cookies,
etc.  mechanize does not provide any support for JavaScript.
.sp
If you come across this in a page you want to automate, you have a few
options.  Here they are, roughly in order of simplicity:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
Figure out what the JavaScript is doing and emulate it in your Python
code. The simplest case is if the JavaScript is setting some cookies.
In that case you can inspect the cookies in your browser and emulate
setting them in mechanize with \fBmechanize.Browser.set_simple_cookie()\fP\&.
.IP \(bu 2
More complex is to use your browser developer tools to see exactly what
requests are sent by the browser and emulate them in mechanize
by using \fBmechanize.Request\fP to create the request manually
and open it with \fBmechanize.Browser.open()\fP\&.
.IP \(bu 2
Third is to use some browser automation framework/library to scrape the
site instead of using mechanize. These libraries typically drive a headless
version of a full browser that can execute all JavaScript. They are
typically much slower than using mechanize and far more resource intensive,
but do work as a last resort.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH BROWSER API
.sp
API documentation for the mechanize \fBBrowser\fP object.
You can create a mechanize \fBBrowser\fP instance as:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
from mechanize import Browser
br = Browser()
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS Contents
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Browser API\fP
.INDENT 2.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%The Browser\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%The Request\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%The Response\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%Miscellaneous\fP
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS The Browser
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.Browser(history=None, request_class=None, content_parser=None, factory_class=<class \(aqmechanize._html.Factory\(aq>, allow_xhtml=False)
Browser\-like class with support for history, forms and links.
.sp
\fBBrowserStateError\fP is raised whenever the browser is in the wrong
state to complete the requested operation \- e.g., when \fI\%back()\fP is
called when the browser history is empty, or when \fI\%follow_link()\fP is
called when the current response does not contain HTML data.
.sp
Public attributes:
.sp
request: current request (\fI\%mechanize.Request\fP)
.sp
form: currently selected form (see \fI\%select_form()\fP)
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBhistory\fP \-\- object implementing the \fI\%mechanize.History\fP
interface.  Note this interface is still experimental
and may change in future. This object is owned
by the browser instance and must not be shared
among browsers.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBrequest_class\fP \-\- Request class to use. Defaults to
\fI\%mechanize.Request\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fBcontent_parser\fP \-\- A function that is responsible for parsing
received html/xhtml content. See the builtin
\fI\%mechanize._html.content_parser()\fP function for details
on the interface this function must support.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBfactory_class\fP \-\- HTML Factory class to use. Defaults to
\fBmechanize.Factory\fP
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B add_client_certificate(url, key_file, cert_file)
Add an SSL client certificate, for HTTPS client auth.
.sp
key_file and cert_file must be filenames of the key and certificate
files, in PEM format.  You can use e.g. OpenSSL to convert a p12 (PKCS
12) file to PEM format:
.sp
openssl pkcs12 \-clcerts \-nokeys \-in cert.p12 \-out cert.pem
openssl pkcs12 \-nocerts \-in cert.p12 \-out key.pem
.sp
Note that client certificate password input is very inflexible ATM.  At
the moment this seems to be console only, which is presumably the
default behaviour of libopenssl.  In future mechanize may support
third\-party libraries that (I assume) allow more options here.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B back(n=1)
Go back n steps in history, and return response object.
.sp
n: go back this number of steps (default 1 step)
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B click(*args, **kwds)
See \fBmechanize.HTMLForm.click()\fP for documentation.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B click_link(link=None, **kwds)
Find a link and return a Request object for it.
.sp
Arguments are as for \fI\%find_link()\fP, except that a link may be
supplied as the first argument.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B cookiejar
Return the current cookiejar (\fBmechanize.CookieJar\fP) or None
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B find_link(text=None, text_regex=None, name=None, name_regex=None, url=None, url_regex=None, tag=None, predicate=None, nr=0)
Find a link in current page.
.sp
Links are returned as \fI\%mechanize.Link\fP objects. Examples:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
# Return third link that .search()\-matches the regexp "python" (by
# ".search()\-matches", I mean that the regular expression method
# .search() is used, rather than .match()).
find_link(text_regex=re.compile("python"), nr=2)

# Return first http link in the current page that points to
# somewhere on python.org whose link text (after tags have been
# removed) is exactly "monty python".
find_link(text="monty python",
        url_regex=re.compile("http.*python.org"))

# Return first link with exactly three HTML attributes.
find_link(predicate=lambda link: len(link.attrs) == 3)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Links include anchors \fI<a>\fP, image maps \fI<area>\fP, and frames
\fI<iframe>\fP\&.
.sp
All arguments must be passed by keyword, not position.  Zero or more
arguments may be supplied.  In order to find a link, all arguments
supplied must match.
.sp
If a matching link is not found, \fBmechanize.LinkNotFoundError\fP
is raised.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtext\fP \-\- link text between link tags: e.g. <a href="blah">this
bit</a> with whitespace compressed.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtext_regex\fP \-\- link text between tag (as defined above) must match
the regular expression object or regular expression string passed
as this argument, if supplied
.IP \(bu 2
\fBname\fP \-\- as for text and text_regex, but matched
against the name HTML attribute of the link tag
.IP \(bu 2
\fBurl\fP \-\- as for text and text_regex, but matched against the
URL of the link tag (note this matches against Link.url, which is a
relative or absolute URL according to how it was written in the
HTML)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtag\fP \-\- element name of opening tag, e.g. "a"
.IP \(bu 2
\fBpredicate\fP \-\- a function taking a Link object as its single
argument, returning a boolean result, indicating whether the links
.IP \(bu 2
\fBnr\fP \-\- matches the nth link that matches all other
criteria (default 0)
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B follow_link(link=None, **kwds)
Find a link and \fI\%open()\fP it.
.sp
Arguments are as for \fI\%click_link()\fP\&.
.sp
Return value is same as for \fI\%open()\fP\&.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B forms()
Return iterable over forms.
.sp
The returned form objects implement the \fBmechanize.HTMLForm\fP
interface.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B geturl()
Get URL of current document.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B global_form()
Return the global form object, or None if the factory implementation
did not supply one.
.sp
The "global" form object contains all controls that are not descendants
of any FORM element.
.sp
The returned form object implements the \fBmechanize.HTMLForm\fP
interface.
.sp
This is a separate method since the global form is not regarded as part
of the sequence of forms in the document \-\- mostly for
backwards\-compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B links(**kwds)
Return iterable over links (\fI\%mechanize.Link\fP objects).
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B open(url_or_request, data=None, timeout=<object object>)
Open a URL. Loads the page so that you can subsequently use
\fI\%forms()\fP, \fI\%links()\fP, etc. on it.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBurl_or_request\fP \-\- Either a URL or a \fI\%mechanize.Request\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fBdata\fP (\fI\%dict\fP) \-\- data to send with a POST request
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtimeout\fP \-\- Timeout in seconds
.UNINDENT
.TP
.B Returns
A \fBmechanize.Response\fP object
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B open_novisit(url_or_request, data=None, timeout=<object object>)
Open a URL without visiting it.
.sp
Browser state (including request, response, history, forms and links)
is left unchanged by calling this function.
.sp
The interface is the same as for \fI\%open()\fP\&.
.sp
This is useful for things like fetching images.
.sp
See also \fI\%retrieve()\fP
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B reload()
Reload current document, and return response object.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B response()
Return a copy of the current response.
.sp
The returned object has the same interface as the object returned by
\fI\%open()\fP
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B retrieve(fullurl, filename=None, reporthook=None, data=None, timeout=<object object>, open=<built\-in function open>)
Returns (filename, headers).
.sp
For remote objects, the default filename will refer to a temporary
file.  Temporary files are removed when the OpenerDirector.close()
method is called.
.sp
For file: URLs, at present the returned filename is None.  This may
change in future.
.sp
If the actual number of bytes read is less than indicated by the
Content\-Length header, raises ContentTooShortError (a URLError
subclass).  The exception\(aqs .result attribute contains the (filename,
headers) that would have been returned.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B select_form(name=None, predicate=None, nr=None, **attrs)
Select an HTML form for input.
.sp
This is a bit like giving a form the "input focus" in a browser.
.sp
If a form is selected, the Browser object supports the HTMLForm
interface, so you can call methods like \fBset_value()\fP,
\fBset()\fP, and \fI\%click()\fP\&.
.sp
Another way to select a form is to assign to the .form attribute.  The
form assigned should be one of the objects returned by the
\fI\%forms()\fP method.
.sp
If no matching form is found,
\fBmechanize.FormNotFoundError\fP is raised.
.sp
If \fIname\fP is specified, then the form must have the indicated name.
.sp
If \fIpredicate\fP is specified, then the form must match that function.
The predicate function is passed the \fBmechanize.HTMLForm\fP as its
single argument, and should return a boolean value indicating whether
the form matched.
.sp
\fInr\fP, if supplied, is the sequence number of the form (where 0 is the
first).  Note that control 0 is the first form matching all the other
arguments (if supplied); it is not necessarily the first control in the
form.  The "global form" (consisting of all form controls not contained
in any FORM element) is considered not to be part of this sequence and
to have no name, so will not be matched unless both name and nr are
None.
.sp
You can also match on any HTML attribute of the \fI<form>\fP tag by passing
in the attribute name and value as keyword arguments. To convert HTML
attributes into syntactically valid python keyword arguments, the
following simple rule is used. The python keyword argument name is
converted to an HTML attribute name by: Replacing all underscores with
hyphens and removing any trailing underscores. You can pass in strings,
functions or regular expression objects as the values to match. For
example:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
# Match form with the exact action specified
br.select_form(action=\(aqhttp://foo.com/submit.php\(aq)
# Match form with a class attribute that contains \(aqlogin\(aq
br.select_form(class_=lambda x: \(aqlogin\(aq in x)
# Match form with a data\-form\-type attribute that matches a regex
br.select_form(data_form_type=re.compile(r\(aqa|b\(aq))
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
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.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_ca_data(cafile=None, capath=None, cadata=None, context=None)
Set the SSL Context used for connecting to SSL servers.
.sp
This method accepts the same arguments as the
\fI\%ssl.SSLContext.load_verify_locations()\fP method from the
python standard library. You can also pass a pre\-built context via the
\fIcontext\fP keyword argument. Note that to use this feature, you must be
using python >= 2.7.9. In addition you can directly pass in
a pre\-built \fI\%ssl.SSLContext\fP as the \fIcontext\fP argument.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_client_cert_manager(cert_manager)
Set a mechanize.HTTPClientCertMgr, or None.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_cookie(cookie_string)
Set a cookie.
.sp
Note that it is NOT necessary to call this method under ordinary
circumstances: cookie handling is normally entirely automatic.  The
intended use case is rather to simulate the setting of a cookie by
client script in a web page (e.g. JavaScript).  In that case, use of
this method is necessary because mechanize currently does not support
JavaScript, VBScript, etc.
.sp
The cookie is added in the same way as if it had arrived with the
current response, as a result of the current request.  This means that,
for example, if it is not appropriate to set the cookie based on the
current request, no cookie will be set.
.sp
The cookie will be returned automatically with subsequent responses
made by the Browser instance whenever that\(aqs appropriate.
.sp
cookie_string should be a valid value of the Set\-Cookie header.
.sp
For example:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
browser.set_cookie(
    "sid=abcdef; expires=Wednesday, 09\-Nov\-06 23:12:40 GMT")
.ft P
.fi
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.UNINDENT
.sp
Currently, this method does not allow for adding RFC 2986 cookies.
This limitation will be lifted if anybody requests it.
.sp
See also \fI\%set_simple_cookie()\fP for an easier way to set cookies
without needing to create a Set\-Cookie header string.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_cookiejar(cookiejar)
Set a mechanize.CookieJar, or None.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_debug_http(handle)
Print HTTP headers to sys.stdout.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_debug_redirects(handle)
Log information about HTTP redirects (including refreshes).
.sp
Logging is performed using module logging.  The logger name is
\fI"mechanize.http_redirects"\fP\&.  To actually print some debug output,
eg:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
import sys, logging
logger = logging.getLogger("mechanize.http_redirects")
logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Other logger names relevant to this module:
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fImechanize.http_responses\fP
.IP \(bu 2
\fImechanize.cookies\fP
.UNINDENT
.sp
To turn on everything:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
import sys, logging
logger = logging.getLogger("mechanize")
logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_debug_responses(handle)
Log HTTP response bodies.
.sp
See \fI\%set_debug_redirects()\fP for details of logging.
.sp
Response objects may be .seek()able if this is set (currently returned
responses are, raised HTTPError exception responses are not).
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_handle_equiv(handle, head_parser_class=None)
Set whether to treat HTML http\-equiv headers like HTTP headers.
.sp
Response objects may be .seek()able if this is set (currently returned
responses are, raised HTTPError exception responses are not).
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_handle_gzip(handle)
Add header indicating to server that we handle gzip
content encoding. Note that if the server sends gzip\(aqed content,
it is handled automatically in any case, regardless of this setting.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_handle_redirect(handle)
Set whether to handle HTTP 30x redirections.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_handle_referer(handle)
Set whether to add Referer header to each request.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_handle_refresh(handle, max_time=None, honor_time=True)
Set whether to handle HTTP Refresh headers.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_handle_robots(handle)
Set whether to observe rules from robots.txt.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_handled_schemes(schemes)
Set sequence of URL scheme (protocol) strings.
.sp
For example: ua.set_handled_schemes(["http", "ftp"])
.sp
If this fails (with ValueError) because you\(aqve passed an unknown
scheme, the set of handled schemes will not be changed.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_header(header, value=None)
Convenience method to set a header value in \fIself.addheaders\fP
so that the header is sent out with all requests automatically.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBheader\fP \-\- The header name, e.g. User\-Agent
.IP \(bu 2
\fBvalue\fP \-\- The header value. If set to None the header is removed.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_html(html, url=\(aqhttp://example.com/\(aq)
Set the response to dummy with given HTML, and URL if given.
.sp
Allows you to then parse that HTML, especially to extract forms
information. If no URL was given then the default is "example.com".
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_password_manager(password_manager)
Set a mechanize.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm, or None.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_proxies(proxies=None, proxy_bypass=None)
Configure proxy settings.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBproxies\fP \-\- dictionary mapping URL scheme to proxy specification.
None means use the default system\-specific settings.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBproxy_bypass\fP \-\- function taking hostname, returning whether proxy
should be used.  None means use the default system\-specific settings.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The default is to try to obtain proxy settings from the system (see the
documentation for urllib.urlopen for information about the
system\-specific methods used \-\- note that\(aqs urllib, not urllib2).
.sp
To avoid all use of proxies, pass an empty proxies dict.
.sp
.nf
.ft C
>>> ua = UserAgentBase()
>>> def proxy_bypass(hostname):
\&...     return hostname == "noproxy.com"
>>> ua.set_proxies(
\&...     {"http": "joe:password@myproxy.example.com:3128",
\&...      "ftp": "proxy.example.com"},
\&...     proxy_bypass)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_proxy_password_manager(password_manager)
Set a mechanize.HTTPProxyPasswordMgr, or None.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_request_gzip(handle)
Add header indicating to server that we handle gzip
content encoding. Note that if the server sends gzip\(aqed content,
it is handled automatically in any case, regardless of this setting.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_response(response)
Replace current response with (a copy of) response.
.sp
response may be None.
.sp
This is intended mostly for HTML\-preprocessing.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_simple_cookie(name, value, domain, path=\(aq/\(aq)
Similar to \fI\%set_cookie()\fP except that instead of using a
cookie string, you simply specify the \fIname\fP, \fIvalue\fP, \fIdomain\fP
and optionally the \fIpath\fP\&.
The created cookie will never expire. For example:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
browser.set_simple_cookie(\(aqsome_key\(aq, \(aqsome_value\(aq, \(aq.example.com\(aq,
                          path=\(aq/some\-page\(aq)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B submit(*args, **kwds)
Submit current form.
.sp
Arguments are as for \fBmechanize.HTMLForm.click()\fP\&.
.sp
Return value is same as for \fI\%open()\fP\&.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B title()
Return title, or None if there is no title element in the document.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B viewing_html()
Return whether the current response contains HTML data.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B visit_response(response, request=None)
Visit the response, as if it had been \fI\%open()\fP ed.
.sp
Unlike \fI\%set_response()\fP, this updates history rather than
replacing the current response.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS The Request
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.Request(url, data=None, headers={}, origin_req_host=None, unverifiable=False, visit=None, timeout=<object object>, method=None)
A request for some network resource. Note that if you specify the method as
\(aqGET\(aq and the data as a dict, then it will be automatically appended to the
URL. If you leave method as None, then the method will be auto\-set to
POST and the data will become part of the POST request.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBurl\fP (\fI\%str\fP) \-\- The URL to request
.IP \(bu 2
\fBdata\fP \-\- Data to send with this request. Can be either a dictionary
which will be encoded and sent as application/x\-www\-form\-urlencoded
data or a bytestring which will be sent as is. If you use a bytestring
you should also set the Content\-Type header appropriately.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBheaders\fP (\fI\%dict\fP) \-\- Headers to send with this request
.IP \(bu 2
\fBmethod\fP (\fI\%str\fP) \-\- Method to use for HTTP requests. If not specified
mechanize will choose GET or POST automatically as appropriate.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtimeout\fP (\fI\%float\fP) \-\- Timeout in seconds
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The remaining arguments are for internal use.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B add_data(data)
Set the data (a bytestring) to be sent with this request
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B add_header(key, val=None)
Add the specified header, replacing existing one, if needed. If val
is None, remove the header.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B add_unredirected_header(key, val)
Same as \fI\%add_header()\fP except that this header will not
be sent for redirected requests.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_data()
The data to be sent with this request
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_header(header_name, default=None)
Get the value of the specified header. If absent, return \fIdefault\fP
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_method()
The method used for HTTP requests
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B has_data()
True iff there is some data to be sent with this request
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B has_header(header_name)
Check if the specified header is present
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B has_proxy()
Private method.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B header_items()
Get a copy of all headers for this request as a list of 2\-tuples
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_data(data)
Set the data (a bytestring) to be sent with this request
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS The Response
.sp
Response objects in mechanize are \fIseek()\fP able \fBfile\fP\-like objects that support
some additional methods, depending on the protocol used for the connection. The documentation
below is for HTTP(s) responses, as these are the most common.
.sp
Additional methods present for HTTP responses:
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize._mechanize.HTTPResponse
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B code
The HTTP status code
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B getcode()
Return HTTP status code
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B geturl()
Return the URL of the resource retrieved, commonly used to determine if
a redirect was followed
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_all_header_names(normalize=True)
Return a list of all headers names. When \fInormalize\fP is \fITrue\fP, the
case of the header names is normalized.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_all_header_values(name, normalize=True)
Return a list of all values for the specified header \fIname\fP (which is
case\-insensitive. Since headers in HTTP can be specified multiple
times, the returned value is always a list. See
\fBrfc822.Message.getheaders()\fP\&.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B info()
Return the headers of the response as a \fI\%rfc822.Message\fP
instance.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B __getitem__(header_name)
Return the \fIlast\fP HTTP Header matching the specified name as string.
mechanize Response object act like dictionaries for convenient access
to header values. For example: \fBresponse[\(aqDate\(aq]\fP\&. You can access
header values using the header names, case\-insensitively. Note that
when more than one header with the same name is present, only the value
of the last header is returned, use \fI\%get_all_header_values()\fP to
get the values of all headers.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get(header_name, default=None):
Return the header value for the specified \fIheader_name\fP or \fIdefault\fP if
the header is not present. See \fI\%__getitem__()\fP\&.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS Miscellaneous
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.Link(base_url, url, text, tag, attrs)
A link in a HTML document
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Variables
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBabsolute_url\fP \-\- The absolutized link URL
.IP \(bu 2
\fBurl\fP \-\- The link URL
.IP \(bu 2
\fBbase_url\fP \-\- The base URL against which this link is resolved
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtext\fP \-\- The link text
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtag\fP \-\- The link tag name
.IP \(bu 2
\fBattrs\fP \-\- The tag attributes
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.History
Though this will become public, the implied interface is not yet stable.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B mechanize._html.content_parser(data, url=None, response_info=None, transport_encoding=None, default_encoding=\(aqutf\-8\(aq, is_html=True)
Parse data (a bytes object) into an etree representation such as
\fI\%xml.etree.ElementTree\fP or \fIlxml.etree\fP
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBdata\fP (\fIbytes\fP) \-\- The data to parse
.IP \(bu 2
\fBurl\fP \-\- The URL of the document being parsed or None
.IP \(bu 2
\fBresponse_info\fP \-\- Information about the document
(contains all HTTP headers as \fBHTTPMessage\fP)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtransport_encoding\fP \-\- The character encoding for the document being
parsed as specified in the HTTP headers or None.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBdefault_encoding\fP \-\- The character encoding to use if no encoding
could be detected and no transport_encoding is specified
.IP \(bu 2
\fBis_html\fP \-\- If the document is to be parsed as HTML.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH HTML FORMS API
.sp
Forms in HTML documents are represented by \fI\%mechanize.HTMLForm\fP\&. Every
form is a collection of controls. The different types of controls are
represented by the various classes documented below.
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.HTMLForm(action, method=\(aqGET\(aq, enctype=\(aqapplication/x\-www\-form\-urlencoded\(aq, name=None, attrs=None, request_class=<class \(aqmechanize._request.Request\(aq>, forms=None, labels=None, id_to_labels=None, encoding=None)
Bases: \fI\%object\fP
.sp
Represents a single HTML <form> ... </form> element.
.sp
A form consists of a sequence of controls that usually have names, and
which can take on various values.  The values of the various types of
controls represent variously: text, zero\-or\-one\-of\-many or many\-of\-many
choices, and files to be uploaded.  Some controls can be clicked on to
submit the form, and clickable controls\(aq values sometimes include the
coordinates of the click.
.sp
Forms can be filled in with data to be returned to the server, and then
submitted, using the click method to generate a request object suitable for
passing to \fBmechanize.urlopen()\fP (or the click_request_data or
click_pairs methods for integration with third\-party code).
.sp
Usually, HTMLForm instances are not created directly.  Instead, they are
automatically created when visting a page with a mechanize Browser.  If you
do construct HTMLForm objects yourself, however, note that an HTMLForm
instance is only properly initialised after the fixup method has been
called.  See \fI\%mechanize.ListControl\fP for the reason this is
required.
.sp
Indexing a form (form["control_name"]) returns the named Control\(aqs value
attribute.  Assignment to a form index (form["control_name"] = something)
is equivalent to assignment to the named Control\(aqs value attribute.  If you
need to be more specific than just supplying the control\(aqs name, use the
set_value and get_value methods.
.sp
ListControl values are lists of item names (specifically, the names of the
items that are selected and not disabled, and hence are "successful" \-\- ie.
cause data to be returned to the server).  The list item\(aqs name is the
value of the corresponding HTML element\(aqs"value" attribute.
.sp
Example:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
<INPUT type="CHECKBOX" name="cheeses" value="leicester"></INPUT>
<INPUT type="CHECKBOX" name="cheeses" value="cheddar"></INPUT>
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
defines a CHECKBOX control with name "cheeses" which has two items, named
"leicester" and "cheddar".
.sp
Another example:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
<SELECT name="more_cheeses">
  <OPTION>1</OPTION>
  <OPTION value="2" label="CHEDDAR">cheddar</OPTION>
</SELECT>
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
defines a SELECT control with name "more_cheeses" which has two items,
named "1" and "2" (because the OPTION element\(aqs value HTML attribute
defaults to the element contents \-\- see \fI\%mechanize.SelectControl\fP
for more on these defaulting rules).
.sp
To select, deselect or otherwise manipulate individual list items, use the
\fI\%mechanize.HTMLForm.find_control()\fP and
\fI\%mechanize.ListControl.get()\fP methods.  To set the whole value, do as
for any other control: use indexing or the \fIset_value/get_value\fP methods.
.sp
Example:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
# select *only* the item named "cheddar"
form["cheeses"] = ["cheddar"]
# select "cheddar", leave other items unaffected
form.find_control("cheeses").get("cheddar").selected = True
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Some controls (RADIO and SELECT without the multiple attribute) can only
have zero or one items selected at a time.  Some controls (CHECKBOX and
SELECT with the multiple attribute) can have multiple items selected at a
time.  To set the whole value of a ListControl, assign a sequence to a form
index:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
form["cheeses"] = ["cheddar", "leicester"]
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
If the ListControl is not multiple\-selection, the assigned list must be of
length one.
.sp
To check if a control has an item, if an item is selected, or if an item is
successful (selected and not disabled), respectively:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
"cheddar" in [item.name for item in form.find_control("cheeses").items]
"cheddar" in [item.name for item in form.find_control("cheeses").items
                and item.selected]
"cheddar" in form["cheeses"]
# or
"cheddar" in form.get_value("cheeses")
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Note that some list items may be disabled (see below).
.sp
Note the following mistake:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
form[control_name] = control_value
assert form[control_name] == control_value  # not necessarily true
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The reason for this is that form[control_name] always gives the list items
in the order they were listed in the HTML.
.sp
List items (hence list values, too) can be referred to in terms of list
item labels rather than list item names using the appropriate label
arguments.  Note that each item may have several labels.
.sp
The question of default values of OPTION contents, labels and values is
somewhat complicated: see \fI\%mechanize.SelectControl\fP and
\fI\%mechanize.ListControl.get_item_attrs()\fP if you think you need to
know.
.sp
Controls can be disabled or readonly.  In either case, the control\(aqs value
cannot be changed until you clear those flags (see example below).
Disabled is the state typically represented by browsers by \(aqgreying out\(aq a
control.  Disabled controls are not \(aqsuccessful\(aq \-\- they don\(aqt cause data
to get returned to the server.  Readonly controls usually appear in
browsers as read\-only text boxes.  Readonly controls are successful.  List
items can also be disabled.  Attempts to select or deselect disabled items
fail with AttributeError.
.sp
If a lot of controls are readonly, it can be useful to do this:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
form.set_all_readonly(False)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
To clear a control\(aqs value attribute, so that it is not successful (until a
value is subsequently set):
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
form.clear("cheeses")
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
More examples:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
control = form.find_control("cheeses")
control.disabled = False
control.readonly = False
control.get("gruyere").disabled = True
control.items[0].selected = True
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
See the various Control classes for further documentation.  Many methods
take name, type, kind, id, label and nr arguments to specify the control to
be operated on: see \fI\%mechanize.HTMLForm.find_control()\fP\&.
.sp
ControlNotFoundError (subclass of ValueError) is raised if the specified
control can\(aqt be found.  This includes occasions where a non\-ListControl
is found, but the method (set, for example) requires a ListControl.
ItemNotFoundError (subclass of ValueError) is raised if a list item can\(aqt
be found.  ItemCountError (subclass of ValueError) is raised if an attempt
is made to select more than one item and the control doesn\(aqt allow that, or
set/get_single are called and the control contains more than one item.
AttributeError is raised if a control or item is readonly or disabled and
an attempt is made to alter its value.
.sp
Security note: Remember that any passwords you store in HTMLForm instances
will be saved to disk in the clear if you pickle them (directly or
indirectly).  The simplest solution to this is to avoid pickling HTMLForm
objects.  You could also pickle before filling in any password, or just set
the password to "" before pickling.
.sp
Public attributes:
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Variables
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBaction\fP \-\- full (absolute URI) form action
.IP \(bu 2
\fBmethod\fP \-\- "GET" or "POST"
.IP \(bu 2
\fBenctype\fP \-\- form transfer encoding MIME type
.IP \(bu 2
\fBname\fP \-\- name of form (None if no name was specified)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBattrs\fP \-\- dictionary mapping original HTML form attributes to their
values
.IP \(bu 2
\fBcontrols\fP \-\- list of Control instances; do not alter this list
(instead, call form.new_control to make a Control and add it to the
form, or control.add_to_form if you already have a Control instance)
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Methods for form filling:
.sp
Most of the these methods have very similar arguments.  See
\fI\%mechanize.HTMLForm.find_control()\fP for details of the name, type,
kind, label and nr arguments.
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
def find_control(self,
                name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None,
                predicate=None, nr=None, label=None)

get_value(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None,
        by_label=False,  # by_label is deprecated
        label=None)
set_value(value,
        name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None,
        by_label=False,  # by_label is deprecated
        label=None)

clear_all()
clear(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, label=None)

set_all_readonly(readonly)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Method applying only to FileControls:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
add_file(file_object,
     content_type="application/octet\-stream", filename=None,
     name=None, id=None, nr=None, label=None)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Methods applying only to clickable controls:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
click(name=None, type=None, id=None, nr=0, coord=(1,1), label=None)
click_request_data(name=None, type=None, id=None, nr=0, coord=(1,1),
                label=None)
click_pairs(name=None, type=None, id=None, nr=0, coord=(1,1),
                label=None)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B add_file(file_object, content_type=None, filename=None, name=None, id=None, nr=None, label=None)
Add a file to be uploaded.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBfile_object\fP \-\- file\-like object (with read method) from which to
read data to upload
.IP \(bu 2
\fBcontent_type\fP \-\- MIME content type of data to upload
.IP \(bu 2
\fBfilename\fP \-\- filename to pass to server
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
If filename is None, no filename is sent to the server.
.sp
If content_type is None, the content type is guessed based on the
filename and the data from read from the file object.
.sp
At the moment, guessed content type is always application/octet\-stream.
.sp
Note the following useful HTML attributes of file upload controls (see
HTML 4.01 spec, section 17):
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
.INDENT 2.0
.TP
.B \fIaccept\fP: comma\-separated list of content types
that the server will handle correctly;
you can use this to filter out non\-conforming files
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
.INDENT 2.0
.TP
.B \fIsize\fP: XXX IIRC, this is indicative of whether form
wants multiple or single files
.UNINDENT
.IP \(bu 2
\fImaxlength\fP: XXX hint of max content length in bytes?
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B clear(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, label=None)
Clear the value attribute of a control.
.sp
As a result, the affected control will not be successful until a value
is subsequently set.  AttributeError is raised on readonly controls.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B clear_all()
Clear the value attributes of all controls in the form.
.sp
See \fI\%mechanize.HTMLForm.clear()\fP
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B click(name=None, type=None, id=None, nr=0, coord=(1, 1), request_class=<class \(aqmechanize._request.Request\(aq>, label=None)
Return request that would result from clicking on a control.
.sp
The request object is a mechanize.Request instance, which you can pass
to mechanize.urlopen.
.sp
Only some control types (INPUT/SUBMIT & BUTTON/SUBMIT buttons and
IMAGEs) can be clicked.
.sp
Will click on the first clickable control, subject to the name, type
and nr arguments (as for find_control).  If no name, type, id or number
is specified and there are no clickable controls, a request will be
returned for the form in its current, un\-clicked, state.
.sp
IndexError is raised if any of name, type, id or nr is specified but no
matching control is found.  ValueError is raised if the HTMLForm has an
enctype attribute that is not recognised.
.sp
You can optionally specify a coordinate to click at, which only makes a
difference if you clicked on an image.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B click_pairs(name=None, type=None, id=None, nr=0, coord=(1, 1), label=None)
As for click_request_data, but returns a list of (key, value) pairs.
.sp
You can use this list as an argument to urllib.urlencode.  This is
usually only useful if you\(aqre using httplib or urllib rather than
mechanize.  It may also be useful if you want to manually tweak the
keys and/or values, but this should not be necessary.  Otherwise, use
the click method.
.sp
Note that this method is only useful for forms of MIME type
x\-www\-form\-urlencoded.  In particular, it does not return the
information required for file upload.  If you need file upload and are
not using mechanize, use click_request_data.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B click_request_data(name=None, type=None, id=None, nr=0, coord=(1, 1), request_class=<class \(aqmechanize._request.Request\(aq>, label=None)
As for click method, but return a tuple (url, data, headers).
.sp
You can use this data to send a request to the server.  This is useful
if you\(aqre using httplib or urllib rather than mechanize.  Otherwise,
use the click method.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B find_control(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, predicate=None, nr=None, label=None)
Locate and return some specific control within the form.
.sp
At least one of the name, type, kind, predicate and nr arguments must
be supplied.  If no matching control is found, ControlNotFoundError is
raised.
.sp
If name is specified, then the control must have the indicated name.
.sp
If type is specified then the control must have the specified type (in
addition to the types possible for <input> HTML tags: "text",
"password", "hidden", "submit", "image", "button", "radio", "checkbox",
"file" we also have "reset", "buttonbutton", "submitbutton",
"resetbutton", "textarea", "select").
.sp
If kind is specified, then the control must fall into the specified
group, each of which satisfies a particular interface.  The types are
"text", "list", "multilist", "singlelist", "clickable" and "file".
.sp
If id is specified, then the control must have the indicated id.
.sp
If predicate is specified, then the control must match that function.
The predicate function is passed the control as its single argument,
and should return a boolean value indicating whether the control
matched.
.sp
nr, if supplied, is the sequence number of the control (where 0 is the
first).  Note that control 0 is the first control matching all the
other arguments (if supplied); it is not necessarily the first control
in the form.  If no nr is supplied, AmbiguityError is raised if
multiple controls match the other arguments.
.sp
If label is specified, then the control must have this label.  Note
that radio controls and checkboxes never have labels: their items do.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B fixup()
Normalise form after all controls have been added.
.sp
This is usually called by ParseFile and ParseResponse.  Don\(aqt call it
youself unless you\(aqre building your own Control instances.
.sp
This method should only be called once, after all controls have been
added to the form.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_value(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, by_label=False, label=None)
Return value of control.
.sp
If only name and value arguments are supplied, equivalent to
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
form[name]
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_value_by_label(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, label=None, nr=None)
All arguments should be passed by name.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B new_control(type, name, attrs, ignore_unknown=False, select_default=False, index=None)
Adds a new control to the form.
.sp
This is usually called by mechanize.  Don\(aqt call it
yourself unless you\(aqre building your own Control instances.
.sp
Note that controls representing lists of items are built up from
controls holding only a single list item.  See
\fI\%mechanize.ListControl\fP for further information.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBtype\fP \-\- type of control (see \fI\%mechanize.Control\fP for a list)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBattrs\fP \-\- HTML attributes of control
.IP \(bu 2
\fBignore_unknown\fP \-\- if true, use a dummy Control instance for controls
of unknown type; otherwise, use a TextControl
.IP \(bu 2
\fBselect_default\fP \-\- for RADIO and multiple\-selection SELECT controls,
pick the first item as the default if no \(aqselected\(aq HTML attribute
is present (this defaulting happens when the HTMLForm.fixup method
is called)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBindex\fP \-\- index of corresponding element in HTML (see
MoreFormTests.test_interspersed_controls for motivation)
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B possible_items(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, by_label=False, label=None)
Return a list of all values that the specified control can take.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set(selected, item_name, name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, by_label=False, label=None)
Select / deselect named list item.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBselected\fP \-\- boolean selected state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_single(selected, name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, by_label=None, label=None)
Select / deselect list item in a control having only one item.
.sp
If the control has multiple list items, ItemCountError is raised.
.sp
This is just a convenience method, so you don\(aqt need to know the item\(aqs
name \-\- the item name in these single\-item controls is usually
something meaningless like "1" or "on".
.sp
For example, if a checkbox has a single item named "on", the following
two calls are equivalent:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
control.toggle("on")
control.toggle_single()
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_value(value, name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, by_label=False, label=None)
Set value of control.
.sp
If only name and value arguments are supplied, equivalent to
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
form[name] = value
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_value_by_label(value, name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, label=None, nr=None)
All arguments should be passed by name.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle(item_name, name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, by_label=False, label=None)
Toggle selected state of named list item.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle_single(name=None, type=None, kind=None, id=None, nr=None, by_label=None, label=None)
Toggle selected state of list item in control having only one item.
.sp
The rest is as for \fI\%mechanize.HTMLForm.set_single()\fP
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.Control(type, name, attrs, index=None)
Bases: \fI\%object\fP
.sp
An HTML form control.
.sp
An HTMLForm contains a sequence of Controls.  The Controls in an HTMLForm
are accessed using the HTMLForm.find_control method or the
HTMLForm.controls attribute.
.sp
Control instances are usually constructed using the ParseFile /
ParseResponse functions.  If you use those functions, you can ignore the
rest of this paragraph.  A Control is only properly initialised after the
fixup method has been called.  In fact, this is only strictly necessary for
ListControl instances.  This is necessary because ListControls are built up
from ListControls each containing only a single item, and their initial
value(s) can only be known after the sequence is complete.
.sp
The types and values that are acceptable for assignment to the value
attribute are defined by subclasses.
.sp
If the disabled attribute is true, this represents the state typically
represented by browsers by \(aqgreying out\(aq a control.  If the disabled
attribute is true, the Control will raise AttributeError if an attempt is
made to change its value.  In addition, the control will not be considered
\(aqsuccessful\(aq as defined by the W3C HTML 4 standard \-\- ie. it will
contribute no data to the return value of the HTMLForm.click* methods.  To
enable a control, set the disabled attribute to a false value.
.sp
If the readonly attribute is true, the Control will raise AttributeError if
an attempt is made to change its value.  To make a control writable, set
the readonly attribute to a false value.
.sp
All controls have the disabled and readonly attributes, not only those that
may have the HTML attributes of the same names.
.sp
On assignment to the value attribute, the following exceptions are raised:
TypeError, AttributeError (if the value attribute should not be assigned
to, because the control is disabled, for example) and ValueError.
.sp
If the name or value attributes are None, or the value is an empty list, or
if the control is disabled, the control is not successful.
.sp
Public attributes:
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Variables
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%type\fP (\fI\%str\fP) \-\- string describing type of control (see the keys of the
HTMLForm.type2class dictionary for the allowable values) (readonly)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBname\fP (\fI\%str\fP) \-\- name of control (readonly)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBvalue\fP \-\- current value of control (subclasses may allow a single value,
a sequence of values, or either)
.IP \(bu 2
\fBdisabled\fP (\fI\%bool\fP) \-\- disabled state
.IP \(bu 2
\fBreadonly\fP (\fI\%bool\fP) \-\- readonly state
.IP \(bu 2
\fI\%id\fP (\fI\%str\fP) \-\- value of id HTML attribute
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.ScalarControl(type, name, attrs, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.Control\fP
.sp
Control whose value is not restricted to one of a prescribed set.
.sp
Some ScalarControls don\(aqt accept any value attribute.  Otherwise, takes a
single value, which must be string\-like.
.sp
Additional read\-only public attribute:
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Variables
\fBattrs\fP (\fI\%dict\fP) \-\- dictionary mapping the names of original HTML attributes
of the control to their values
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.TextControl(type, name, attrs, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.ScalarControl\fP
.sp
Textual input control.
.sp
Covers HTML elements: INPUT/TEXT, INPUT/PASSWORD, INPUT/HIDDEN, TEXTAREA
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.FileControl(type, name, attrs, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.ScalarControl\fP
.sp
File upload with INPUT TYPE=FILE.
.sp
The value attribute of a FileControl is always None.  Use add_file instead.
.sp
Additional public method: \fI\%add_file()\fP
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B add_file(file_object, content_type=None, filename=None)
Add data from the specified file to be uploaded. content_type and
filename are sent in the HTTP headers if specified.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.IgnoreControl(type, name, attrs, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.ScalarControl\fP
.sp
Control that we\(aqre not interested in.
.sp
Covers html elements: INPUT/RESET, BUTTON/RESET, INPUT/BUTTON,
BUTTON/BUTTON
.sp
These controls are always unsuccessful, in the terminology of HTML 4 (ie.
they never require any information to be returned to the server).
.sp
BUTTON/BUTTON is used to generate events for script embedded in HTML.
.sp
The value attribute of IgnoreControl is always None.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.ListControl(type, name, attrs={}, select_default=False, called_as_base_class=False, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.Control\fP
.sp
Control representing a sequence of items.
.sp
The value attribute of a ListControl represents the successful list items
in the control.  The successful list items are those that are selected and
not disabled.
.sp
ListControl implements both list controls that take a length\-1 value
(single\-selection) and those that take length >1 values
(multiple\-selection).
.sp
ListControls accept sequence values only.  Some controls only accept
sequences of length 0 or 1 (RADIO, and single\-selection SELECT).
In those cases, ItemCountError is raised if len(sequence) > 1.  CHECKBOXes
and multiple\-selection SELECTs (those having the "multiple" HTML attribute)
accept sequences of any length.
.sp
Note the following mistake:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
control.value = some_value
assert control.value == some_value    # not necessarily true
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The reason for this is that the value attribute always gives the list items
in the order they were listed in the HTML.
.sp
ListControl items can also be referred to by their labels instead of names.
Use the label argument to .get(), and the .set_value_by_label(),
\&.get_value_by_label() methods.
.sp
Note that, rather confusingly, though SELECT controls are represented in
HTML by SELECT elements (which contain OPTION elements, representing
individual list items), CHECKBOXes and RADIOs are not represented by \fIany\fP
element.  Instead, those controls are represented by a collection of INPUT
elements.  For example, this is a SELECT control, named "control1":
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
<select name="control1">
<option>foo</option>
<option value="1">bar</option>
</select>
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
and this is a CHECKBOX control, named "control2":
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
<input type="checkbox" name="control2" value="foo" id="cbe1">
<input type="checkbox" name="control2" value="bar" id="cbe2">
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The id attribute of a CHECKBOX or RADIO ListControl is always that of its
first element (for example, "cbe1" above).
.sp
Additional read\-only public attribute: multiple.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B fixup()
ListControls are built up from component list items (which are also
ListControls) during parsing.  This method should be called after all
items have been added.  See \fI\%mechanize.ListControl\fP for the
reason this is required.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get(name=None, label=None, id=None, nr=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return item by name or label, disambiguating if necessary with nr.
.sp
All arguments must be passed by name, with the exception of \(aqname\(aq,
which may be used as a positional argument.
.sp
If name is specified, then the item must have the indicated name.
.sp
If label is specified, then the item must have a label whose
whitespace\-compressed, stripped, text substring\-matches the indicated
label string (e.g. label="please choose" will match
"  Do  please  choose an item ").
.sp
If id is specified, then the item must have the indicated id.
.sp
nr is an optional 0\-based index of the items matching the query.
.sp
If nr is the default None value and more than item is found, raises
AmbiguityError.
.sp
If no item is found, or if items are found but nr is specified and not
found, raises ItemNotFoundError.
.sp
Optionally excludes disabled items.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_attrs(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Return dictionary of HTML attributes for a single ListControl item.
.sp
The HTML element types that describe list items are: OPTION for SELECT
controls, INPUT for the rest.  These elements have HTML attributes that
you may occasionally want to know about \-\- for example, the "alt" HTML
attribute gives a text string describing the item (graphical browsers
usually display this as a tooltip).
.sp
The returned dictionary maps HTML attribute names to values.  The names
and values are taken from the original HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_disabled(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Get disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_items(name=None, label=None, id=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return matching items by name or label.
.sp
For argument docs, see the docstring for .get()
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_value_by_label()
Return the value of the control as given by normalized labels.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B possible_items(by_label=False)
Deprecated: return the names or labels of all possible items.
.sp
Includes disabled items, which may be misleading for some use cases.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set(selected, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, set the matching item\(aqs selection to the bool value of selected.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_all_items_disabled(disabled)
Set disabled state of all list items in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_item_disabled(disabled, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Set disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_single(selected, by_label=None)
Deprecated: set the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_value_by_label(value)
Set the value of control by item labels.
.sp
value is expected to be an iterable of strings that are substrings of
the item labels that should be selected.  Before substring matching is
performed, the original label text is whitespace\-compressed
(consecutive whitespace characters are converted to a single space
character) and leading and trailing whitespace is stripped. Ambiguous
labels: it will not complain as long as all ambiguous labels share the
same item name (e.g. OPTION value).
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, toggle the matching item\(aqs selection.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle_single(by_label=None)
Deprecated: toggle the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.RadioControl(type, name, attrs, select_default=False, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.ListControl\fP
.sp
Covers:
.sp
INPUT/RADIO
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B fixup()
ListControls are built up from component list items (which are also
ListControls) during parsing.  This method should be called after all
items have been added.  See \fI\%mechanize.ListControl\fP for the
reason this is required.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get(name=None, label=None, id=None, nr=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return item by name or label, disambiguating if necessary with nr.
.sp
All arguments must be passed by name, with the exception of \(aqname\(aq,
which may be used as a positional argument.
.sp
If name is specified, then the item must have the indicated name.
.sp
If label is specified, then the item must have a label whose
whitespace\-compressed, stripped, text substring\-matches the indicated
label string (e.g. label="please choose" will match
"  Do  please  choose an item ").
.sp
If id is specified, then the item must have the indicated id.
.sp
nr is an optional 0\-based index of the items matching the query.
.sp
If nr is the default None value and more than item is found, raises
AmbiguityError.
.sp
If no item is found, or if items are found but nr is specified and not
found, raises ItemNotFoundError.
.sp
Optionally excludes disabled items.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_attrs(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Return dictionary of HTML attributes for a single ListControl item.
.sp
The HTML element types that describe list items are: OPTION for SELECT
controls, INPUT for the rest.  These elements have HTML attributes that
you may occasionally want to know about \-\- for example, the "alt" HTML
attribute gives a text string describing the item (graphical browsers
usually display this as a tooltip).
.sp
The returned dictionary maps HTML attribute names to values.  The names
and values are taken from the original HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_disabled(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Get disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_items(name=None, label=None, id=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return matching items by name or label.
.sp
For argument docs, see the docstring for .get()
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_value_by_label()
Return the value of the control as given by normalized labels.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B possible_items(by_label=False)
Deprecated: return the names or labels of all possible items.
.sp
Includes disabled items, which may be misleading for some use cases.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set(selected, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, set the matching item\(aqs selection to the bool value of selected.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_all_items_disabled(disabled)
Set disabled state of all list items in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_item_disabled(disabled, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Set disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_single(selected, by_label=None)
Deprecated: set the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_value_by_label(value)
Set the value of control by item labels.
.sp
value is expected to be an iterable of strings that are substrings of
the item labels that should be selected.  Before substring matching is
performed, the original label text is whitespace\-compressed
(consecutive whitespace characters are converted to a single space
character) and leading and trailing whitespace is stripped. Ambiguous
labels: it will not complain as long as all ambiguous labels share the
same item name (e.g. OPTION value).
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, toggle the matching item\(aqs selection.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle_single(by_label=None)
Deprecated: toggle the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.CheckboxControl(type, name, attrs, select_default=False, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.ListControl\fP
.sp
Covers:
.sp
INPUT/CHECKBOX
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B fixup()
ListControls are built up from component list items (which are also
ListControls) during parsing.  This method should be called after all
items have been added.  See \fI\%mechanize.ListControl\fP for the
reason this is required.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get(name=None, label=None, id=None, nr=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return item by name or label, disambiguating if necessary with nr.
.sp
All arguments must be passed by name, with the exception of \(aqname\(aq,
which may be used as a positional argument.
.sp
If name is specified, then the item must have the indicated name.
.sp
If label is specified, then the item must have a label whose
whitespace\-compressed, stripped, text substring\-matches the indicated
label string (e.g. label="please choose" will match
"  Do  please  choose an item ").
.sp
If id is specified, then the item must have the indicated id.
.sp
nr is an optional 0\-based index of the items matching the query.
.sp
If nr is the default None value and more than item is found, raises
AmbiguityError.
.sp
If no item is found, or if items are found but nr is specified and not
found, raises ItemNotFoundError.
.sp
Optionally excludes disabled items.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_attrs(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Return dictionary of HTML attributes for a single ListControl item.
.sp
The HTML element types that describe list items are: OPTION for SELECT
controls, INPUT for the rest.  These elements have HTML attributes that
you may occasionally want to know about \-\- for example, the "alt" HTML
attribute gives a text string describing the item (graphical browsers
usually display this as a tooltip).
.sp
The returned dictionary maps HTML attribute names to values.  The names
and values are taken from the original HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_disabled(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Get disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_items(name=None, label=None, id=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return matching items by name or label.
.sp
For argument docs, see the docstring for .get()
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_value_by_label()
Return the value of the control as given by normalized labels.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B possible_items(by_label=False)
Deprecated: return the names or labels of all possible items.
.sp
Includes disabled items, which may be misleading for some use cases.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set(selected, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, set the matching item\(aqs selection to the bool value of selected.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_all_items_disabled(disabled)
Set disabled state of all list items in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_item_disabled(disabled, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Set disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_single(selected, by_label=None)
Deprecated: set the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_value_by_label(value)
Set the value of control by item labels.
.sp
value is expected to be an iterable of strings that are substrings of
the item labels that should be selected.  Before substring matching is
performed, the original label text is whitespace\-compressed
(consecutive whitespace characters are converted to a single space
character) and leading and trailing whitespace is stripped. Ambiguous
labels: it will not complain as long as all ambiguous labels share the
same item name (e.g. OPTION value).
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, toggle the matching item\(aqs selection.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle_single(by_label=None)
Deprecated: toggle the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.SelectControl(type, name, attrs, select_default=False, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.ListControl\fP
.sp
Covers:
.sp
SELECT (and OPTION)
.sp
OPTION \(aqvalues\(aq, in HTML parlance, are Item \(aqnames\(aq in mechanize parlance.
.sp
SELECT control values and labels are subject to some messy defaulting
rules.  For example, if the HTML representation of the control is:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
<SELECT name=year>
    <OPTION value=0 label="2002">current year</OPTION>
    <OPTION value=1>2001</OPTION>
    <OPTION>2000</OPTION>
</SELECT>
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The items, in order, have labels "2002", "2001" and "2000", whereas their
names (the OPTION values) are "0", "1" and "2000" respectively.  Note that
the value of the last OPTION in this example defaults to its contents, as
specified by RFC 1866, as do the labels of the second and third OPTIONs.
.sp
The OPTION labels are sometimes more meaningful than the OPTION values,
which can make for more maintainable code.
.sp
Additional read\-only public attribute: attrs
.sp
The attrs attribute is a dictionary of the original HTML attributes of the
SELECT element.  Other ListControls do not have this attribute, because in
other cases the control as a whole does not correspond to any single HTML
element.  control.get(...).attrs may be used as usual to get at the HTML
attributes of the HTML elements corresponding to individual list items (for
SELECT controls, these are OPTION elements).
.sp
Another special case is that the Item.attrs dictionaries have a special key
"contents" which does not correspond to any real HTML attribute, but rather
contains the contents of the OPTION element:
.INDENT 7.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
<OPTION>this bit</OPTION>
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B fixup()
ListControls are built up from component list items (which are also
ListControls) during parsing.  This method should be called after all
items have been added.  See \fI\%mechanize.ListControl\fP for the
reason this is required.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get(name=None, label=None, id=None, nr=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return item by name or label, disambiguating if necessary with nr.
.sp
All arguments must be passed by name, with the exception of \(aqname\(aq,
which may be used as a positional argument.
.sp
If name is specified, then the item must have the indicated name.
.sp
If label is specified, then the item must have a label whose
whitespace\-compressed, stripped, text substring\-matches the indicated
label string (e.g. label="please choose" will match
"  Do  please  choose an item ").
.sp
If id is specified, then the item must have the indicated id.
.sp
nr is an optional 0\-based index of the items matching the query.
.sp
If nr is the default None value and more than item is found, raises
AmbiguityError.
.sp
If no item is found, or if items are found but nr is specified and not
found, raises ItemNotFoundError.
.sp
Optionally excludes disabled items.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_attrs(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Return dictionary of HTML attributes for a single ListControl item.
.sp
The HTML element types that describe list items are: OPTION for SELECT
controls, INPUT for the rest.  These elements have HTML attributes that
you may occasionally want to know about \-\- for example, the "alt" HTML
attribute gives a text string describing the item (graphical browsers
usually display this as a tooltip).
.sp
The returned dictionary maps HTML attribute names to values.  The names
and values are taken from the original HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_item_disabled(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Get disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_items(name=None, label=None, id=None, exclude_disabled=False)
Return matching items by name or label.
.sp
For argument docs, see the docstring for .get()
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_value_by_label()
Return the value of the control as given by normalized labels.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B possible_items(by_label=False)
Deprecated: return the names or labels of all possible items.
.sp
Includes disabled items, which may be misleading for some use cases.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set(selected, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, set the matching item\(aqs selection to the bool value of selected.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_all_items_disabled(disabled)
Set disabled state of all list items in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_item_disabled(disabled, name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Set disabled state of named list item in a ListControl.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Parameters
\fBdisabled\fP \-\- boolean disabled state
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_single(selected, by_label=None)
Deprecated: set the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B set_value_by_label(value)
Set the value of control by item labels.
.sp
value is expected to be an iterable of strings that are substrings of
the item labels that should be selected.  Before substring matching is
performed, the original label text is whitespace\-compressed
(consecutive whitespace characters are converted to a single space
character) and leading and trailing whitespace is stripped. Ambiguous
labels: it will not complain as long as all ambiguous labels share the
same item name (e.g. OPTION value).
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle(name, by_label=False, nr=None)
Deprecated: given a name or label and optional disambiguating index
nr, toggle the matching item\(aqs selection.
.sp
Selecting items follows the behavior described in the docstring of the
\(aqget\(aq method.
.sp
if the item is disabled, or this control is disabled or readonly,
raise AttributeError.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B toggle_single(by_label=None)
Deprecated: toggle the selection of the single item in this control.
.sp
Raises ItemCountError if the control does not contain only one item.
.sp
by_label argument is ignored, and included only for backwards
compatibility.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.SubmitControl(type, name, attrs, index=None)
Covers:
.sp
INPUT/SUBMIT
BUTTON/SUBMIT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B Members
.TP
.B Inherited\-members
.TP
.B Show\-inheritance
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B class mechanize.ImageControl(type, name, attrs, index=None)
Bases: \fBmechanize._form_controls.SubmitControl\fP
.sp
Covers:
.sp
INPUT/IMAGE
.sp
Coordinates are specified using one of the HTMLForm.click* methods.
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B get_labels()
Return all labels (Label instances) for this control.
.sp
If the control was surrounded by a <label> tag, that will be the first
label; all other labels, connected by \(aqfor\(aq and \(aqid\(aq, are in the order
that appear in the HTML.
.UNINDENT
.INDENT 7.0
.TP
.B pairs()
Return list of (key, value) pairs suitable for passing to urlencode.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH ADVANCED TOPICS
.SS Thread safety
.sp
The global \fBmechanize.urlopen()\fP and \fBmechanize.urlretrieve()\fP functions are
thread safe. However, mechanize browser instances \fBare not\fP thread safe. If
you want to use a mechanize Browser instance in multiple threads, clone it,
using \fIcopy.copy(browser_object)\fP method. The clone will share the same,
thread safe cookie jar, and have the same settings/handlers as the original,
but all other state is not shared, making the clone safe to use in a different
thread.
.SS Using custom CA certificates
.sp
mechanize supports the same mechanism for using custom CA certificates as
python >= 2.7.9. To change the certificates a mechanize browser instance uses,
call the \fBmechanize.Browser.set_ca_data()\fP method on it.
.SS Debugging
.sp
Hints for debugging programs that use mechanize.
.SS Cookies
.sp
A common mistake is to use \fBmechanize.urlopen()\fP, \fIand\fP the
\fI\&.extract_cookies()\fP and \fI\&.add_cookie_header()\fP methods on a cookie object
themselves.  If you use \fImechanize.urlopen()\fP (or \fIOpenerDirector.open()\fP), the
module handles extraction and adding of cookies by itself, so you should not
call \fI\&.extract_cookies()\fP or \fI\&.add_cookie_header()\fP\&.
.sp
Are you sure the server is sending you any cookies in the first place?  Maybe
the server is keeping track of state in some other way (\fIHIDDEN\fP HTML form
entries (possibly in a separate page referenced by a frame), URL\-encoded
session keys, IP address, HTTP \fIReferer\fP headers)?  Perhaps some embedded
script in the HTML is setting cookies (see below)?  Turn on \fI\%Logging\fP\&.
.sp
When you \fI\&.save()\fP to or \fI\&.load()\fP/\fI\&.revert()\fP from a file, single\-session
cookies will expire unless you explicitly request otherwise with the
\fIignore_discard\fP argument.  This may be your problem if you find cookies are
going away after saving and loading.
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
import mechanize
cj = mechanize.LWPCookieJar()
opener = mechanize.build_opener(mechanize.HTTPCookieProcessor(cj))
mechanize.install_opener(opener)
r = mechanize.urlopen("http://foobar.com/")
cj.save("/some/file", ignore_discard=True, ignore_expires=True)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
JavaScript code can set cookies; mechanize does not support this.  See
jsfaq\&.
.SS General
.sp
Enable \fI\%Logging\fP\&.
.sp
Sometimes, a server wants particular HTTP headers set to the values it expects.
For example, the \fIUser\-Agent\fP header may need to be set
(\fBmechanize.Browser.set_header()\fP) to a value like that of a popular
browser.
.sp
Check that the browser is able to do manually what you\(aqre trying to achieve
programmatically.  Make sure that what you do manually is \fIexactly\fP the same as
what you\(aqre trying to do from Python \-\- you may simply be hitting a server bug
that only gets revealed if you view pages in a particular order, for example.
.sp
Try comparing the headers and data that your program sends with those that a
browser sends.  Often this will give you the clue you need.  You can use
the developer tools in any browser to see exactly what the browser sends and
receives.
.sp
If nothing is obviously wrong with the requests your program is sending and
you\(aqre out of ideas, you can reliably locate the problem by copying the headers
that a browser sends, and then changing headers until your program stops
working again.  Temporarily switch to explicitly sending individual HTTP
headers (by calling \fI\&.add_header()\fP, or by using \fIhttplib\fP directly).  Start by
sending exactly the headers that Firefox or Chrome send.  You may need to make sure
that a valid session ID is sent \-\- the one you got from your browser may no
longer be valid.  If that works, you can begin the tedious process of changing
your headers and data until they match what your original code was sending.
You should end up with a minimal set of changes.  If you think that reveals a
bug in mechanize, please report it.
.SS Logging
.sp
To enable logging to stdout:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
import sys, logging
logger = logging.getLogger("mechanize")
logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
You can reduce the amount of information shown by setting the level to
\fIlogging.INFO\fP instead of \fIlogging.DEBUG\fP, or by only enabling logging for one
of the following logger names instead of \fI"mechanize"\fP:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fI"mechanize"\fP: Everything.
.IP \(bu 2
\fI"mechanize.cookies"\fP: Why particular cookies are accepted or rejected and why
they are or are not returned.  Requires logging enabled at the \fIDEBUG\fP level.
.IP \(bu 2
\fI"mechanize.http_responses"\fP: HTTP response body data.
.IP \(bu 2
\fI"mechanize.http_redirects"\fP: HTTP redirect information.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SS HTTP headers
.sp
An example showing how to enable printing of HTTP headers to stdout, logging of
HTTP response bodies, and logging of information about redirections:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
import sys, logging
import mechanize

logger = logging.getLogger("mechanize")
logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

browser = mechanize.Browser()
browser.set_debug_http(True)
browser.set_debug_responses(True)
browser.set_debug_redirects(True)
response = browser.open("http://python.org/")
.ft P
.fi
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Alternatively, you can examine request and response objects to see what\(aqs going
on.  Note that requests may involve "sub\-requests" in cases such as
redirection, in which case you will not see everything that\(aqs going on just by
examining the original request and final response.
.SH QUICKSTART
.sp
The examples below are written for a website that does not exist
(\fIexample.com\fP), so cannot be run.
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.nf
.ft C
import re
import mechanize

br = mechanize.Browser()
br.open("http://www.example.com/")
# follow second link with element text matching regular expression
response1 = br.follow_link(text_regex=r"cheese\es*shop", nr=1)
print(br.title())
print(response1.geturl())
print(response1.info())  # headers
print(response1.read())  # body

br.select_form(name="order")
# Browser passes through unknown attributes (including methods)
# to the selected HTMLForm.
br["cheeses"] = ["mozzarella", "caerphilly"]  # (the method here is __setitem__)
# Submit current form.  Browser calls .close() on the current response on
# navigation, so this closes response1
response2 = br.submit()

# print currently selected form (don\(aqt call .submit() on this, use br.submit())
print(br.form)

response3 = br.back()  # back to cheese shop (same data as response1)
# the history mechanism returns cached response objects
# we can still use the response, even though it was .close()d
response3.get_data()  # like .seek(0) followed by .read()
response4 = br.reload()  # fetches from server

for form in br.forms():
    print(form)
# .links() optionally accepts the keyword args of .follow_/.find_link()
for link in br.links(url_regex="python.org"):
    print(link)
    br.follow_link(link)  # takes EITHER Link instance OR keyword args
    br.back()
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You may control the browser\(aqs policy by using the methods of
\fImechanize.Browser\fP\(aqs base class, \fImechanize.UserAgent\fP\&.  For example:
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br = mechanize.Browser()
# Explicitly configure proxies (Browser will attempt to set good defaults).
# Note the userinfo ("joe:password@") and port number (":3128") are optional.
br.set_proxies({"http": "joe:password@myproxy.example.com:3128",
                "ftp": "proxy.example.com",
                })
# Add HTTP Basic/Digest auth username and password for HTTP proxy access.
# (equivalent to using "joe:password@..." form above)
br.add_proxy_password("joe", "password")
# Add HTTP Basic/Digest auth username and password for website access.
br.add_password("http://example.com/protected/", "joe", "password")
# Add an extra header to all outgoing requests, you can also
# re\-order or remove headers in this function.
br.finalize_request_headers = lambda request, headers: headers.__setitem__(
  \(aqMy\-Custom\-Header\(aq, \(aqSomething\(aq)
# Don\(aqt handle HTTP\-EQUIV headers (HTTP headers embedded in HTML).
br.set_handle_equiv(False)
# Ignore robots.txt.  Do not do this without thought and consideration.
br.set_handle_robots(False)
# Don\(aqt add Referer (sic) header
br.set_handle_referer(False)
# Don\(aqt handle Refresh redirections
br.set_handle_refresh(False)
# Don\(aqt handle cookies
br.set_cookiejar()
# Supply your own mechanize.CookieJar (NOTE: cookie handling is ON by
# default: no need to do this unless you have some reason to use a
# particular cookiejar)
br.set_cookiejar(cj)
# Tell the browser to send the Accept\-Encoding: gzip header to the server
# to indicate it supports gzip Content\-Encoding
br.set_request_gzip(True)
# Do not verify SSL certificates
import ssl
br.set_ca_data(context=ssl._create_unverified_context(cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_NONE)
# Log information about HTTP redirects and Refreshes.
br.set_debug_redirects(True)
# Log HTTP response bodies (i.e. the HTML, most of the time).
br.set_debug_responses(True)
# Print HTTP headers.
br.set_debug_http(True)

# To make sure you\(aqre seeing all debug output:
logger = logging.getLogger("mechanize")
logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)

# Sometimes it\(aqs useful to process bad headers or bad HTML:
response = br.response()  # this is a copy of response
headers = response.info()  # this is a HTTPMessage
headers["Content\-type"] = "text/html; charset=utf\-8"
response.set_data(response.get_data().replace("<!\-\-\-", "<!\-\-"))
br.set_response(response)
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mechanize exports the complete interface of \fIurllib2\fP:
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import mechanize
response = mechanize.urlopen("http://www.example.com/")
print(response.read())
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When using mechanize, anything you would normally import from \fIurllib2\fP should
be imported from mechanize instead.
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genindex
.IP \(bu 2
modindex
.IP \(bu 2
search
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.SH AUTHOR
Kovid Goyal
.SH COPYRIGHT
2020, Kovid Goyal
.\" Generated by docutils manpage writer.
.