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NAME

MediaWiki::Bot - a MediaWiki bot framework written in Perl

VERSION

version 3.2.7

SYNOPSIS

use MediaWiki::Bot;

my $bot = MediaWiki::Bot->new({
    assert      => 'bot',
    protocol    => 'https',
    host        => 'secure.wikimedia.org',
    path        => 'wikipedia/meta/w',
    login_data  => { username => "Mike's bot account", password => "password" },
});

my $revid = $bot->get_last("User:Mike.lifeguard/sandbox", "Mike.lifeguard");
print "Reverting to $revid\n" if defined($revid);
$bot->revert('User:Mike.lifeguard', $revid, 'rvv');

DESCRIPTION

MediaWiki::Bot is a framework that can be used to write bots which interface with the MediaWiki API (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php).

METHODS

new($options_hashref)

Calling MediaWiki::Bot->new() will create a new MediaWiki::Bot object.

agent sets a custom useragent
assert sets a parameter for the AssertEdit extension (commonly 'bot'). Refer to http://mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AssertEdit.
operator allows the bot to send you a message when it fails an assert, and will be integrated into the default useragent (which may not be used if you set agent yourself). The message will tell you that $useragent is logged out, so use a descriptive one if you set it.
maxlag allows you to set the maxlag parameter (default is the recommended 5s). Please refer to the MediaWiki documentation prior to changing this from the default.
protocol allows you to specify 'http' or 'https' (default is 'http'). This is commonly used with the domain and path settings below.
host sets the domain name of the wiki to connect to.
path sets the path to api.php (with no leading or trailing slash).
login_data is a hashref of credentials to pass to login(). See that section for a description.
debug is whether to provide debug output. 1 provides only error messages; 2 provides further detail on internal operations.

For example:

my $bot = MediaWiki::Bot->new({
    assert      => 'bot',
    protocol    => 'https',
    host        => 'secure.wikimedia.org',
    path        => 'wikipedia/meta/w',
    login_data  => { username => "Mike's bot account", password => "password" },
});

For backward compatibility, you can specify up to three parameters:

my $bot = MediaWiki::Bot->new('MediaWiki::Bot 2.3.1 (User:Mike.lifeguard)', $assert, $operator);

This deprecated form will never do auto-login or autoconfiguration.

set_wiki($options)

Set what wiki to use. Host is the domain name; path is the path before api.php (usually 'w'); protocol is either 'http' or 'https'. For example:

$bot->set_wiki(
    protocol    => 'https',
    host        => 'secure.wikimedia.org',
    path        => 'wikipedia/meta/w',
);

For backward compatibility, you can specify up to two parameters in this deprecated form:

$bot->set_wiki($host, $path);

If you don't set any parameter, it's previous value is used. If it has never been set, the default settings are 'http', 'en.wikipedia.org' and 'w'.

Logs the use $username in, optionally using $password. First, an attempt will be made to use cookies to log in. If this fails, an attempt will be made to use the password provided to log in, if any. If the login was successful, returns true; false otherwise.

$bot->login({
    username => $username,
    password => $password,
}) or die "Login failed";

Once logged in, attempt to do some simple auto-configuration. At present, this consists of:

Warning if the account doesn't have the bot flag, and isn't a sysop account.
Setting the use of apihighlimits if the account has that userright.
Setting an appropriate default assert.

You can skip this autoconfiguration by passing autoconfig => 0

On WMF wikis, do_sul specifies whether to log in on all projects. The default is false. But even when false, you still get a CentralAuth cookie for, and are thus logged in on, all languages of a given domain (*.wikipedia.org, for example). When set, a login is done on each WMF domain so you are logged in on all ~800 content wikis. Since *.wikimedia.org is not possible, we explicitly include meta, commons, incubator, and wikispecies. When do_sul is set, the return is the number of domains that login was successful for. This allows callers to do the following:

$bot->login({
    username    => $username,
    password    => $password,
    do_sul      => 1,
}) or die "SUL failed";

For backward compatibility, you can call this as

$bot->login($username, $password);

This deprecated form will never do autoconfiguration or SUL login.

If you need to supply basic auth credentials, pass a hashref of data as described by LWP::UserAgent:

$bot->login({
    username    => $username,
    password    => $password,
    basic_auth  => {    netloc  => "private.wiki.com:80",
                        realm   => "Authentication Realm",
                        uname   => "Basic auth username",
                        pass    => "password",
                    }
}) or die "Couldn't log in";

set_highlimits($flag)

Tells MediaWiki::Bot to start/stop using APIHighLimits for certain queries.

$bot->set_highlimits(1);

logout()

The logout procedure deletes the login tokens and other browser cookies.

$bot->logout();

edit($options_hashref)

Puts text on a page. If provided, use a specified edit summary, mark the edit as minor, as a non-bot edit, or add an assertion. Set section to edit a single section instead of the whole page. An MD5 hash is sent to guard against data corruption while in transit.

my $text = $bot->get_text('My page');
$text .= "\n\n* More text\n";
$bot->edit({
    page    => 'My page',
    text    => $text,
    summary => 'Adding new content',
    section => 'new',
});

You can also call this using the deprecated form:

$bot->edit($page, $text, $summary, $is_minor, $assert, $markasbot);

move($from, $to, $reason, $options_hashref)

This moves a page from $from to $to. If you wish to specify more options (like whether to suppress creation of a redirect), use $options_hashref.

movetalk specifies whether to attempt to the talk page.
noredirect specifies whether to suppress creation of a redirect.
movesubpages specifies whether to move subpages, if applicable.
watch and unwatch add or remove the page and the redirect from your watchlist.
ignorewarnings ignores warnings.

my @pages = ("Humor", "Rumor");
foreach my $page (@pages) {
    my $to = $page;
    $to =~ s/or$/our/;
    $bot->move($page, $to, "silly 'merricans");
}

get_history($pagename[,$limit])

Returns an array containing the history of the specified page, with $limit number of revisions (default is as many as possible). The array structure contains 'revid', 'user', 'comment', 'timestamp_date', and 'timestamp_time'.

get_text($pagename,[$revid,$section_number])

Returns an the wikitext of the specified page. If $revid is defined, it will return the text of that revision; if $section_number is defined, it will return the text of that section. A blank page will return wikitext of "" (which evaluates to false in Perl, but is defined); a nonexistent page will return undef (which also evaluates to false in Perl, but is obviously undefined). You can distinguish between blank and nonexistent by using defined():

my $wikitext = $bot->get_text('Page title');
print "Wikitext: $wikitext\n" if defined $wikitext;

get_id($pagename)

Returns the id of the specified page. Returns undef if page does not exist.

my $pageid = $bot->get_id("Main Page");
croak "Page doesn't exist\n" if !defined($pageid);

get_pages(\@pages)

Returns the text of the specified pages in a hashref. Content of undef means page does not exist. Also handles redirects or article names that use namespace aliases.

my @pages = ('Page 1', 'Page 2', 'Page 3');
my $thing = $bot->get_pages(\@pages);
foreach my $page (keys %$thing) {
    my $text = $thing->{$page};
    print "$text\n" if defined($text);
}

revert($pagename, $revid[,$summary])

Reverts the specified page to $revid, with an edit summary of $summary. A default edit summary will be used if $summary is omitted.

my $revid = $bot->get_last("User:Mike.lifeguard/sandbox", "Mike.lifeguard");
print "Reverting to $revid\n" if defined($revid);
$bot->revert('User:Mike.lifeguard', $revid, 'rvv');

undo($pagename, $revid[,$summary[,$after]])

Reverts the specified $revid, with an edit summary of $summary, using the undo function. To undo all revisions from $revid up to but not including this one, set $after to another revid. If not set, just undo the one revision ($revid).

get_last($page, $user)

Returns the revid of the last revision to $page not made by $user. undef is returned if no result was found, as would be the case if the page is deleted.

my $revid = $bot->get_last("User:Mike.lifeguard/sandbox", "Mike.lifeguard");
if defined($revid) {
    print "Reverting to $revid\n";
    $bot->revert('User:Mike.lifeguard', $revid, 'rvv');
}

update_rc($limit[,$options_hashref])

Note: update_rc() is deprecated in favour of recentchanges(), which returns all available data, including rcid.

Returns an array containing the Recent Changes to the wiki Main namespace. The array structure contains 'title', 'revid', 'old_revid', and 'timestamp'. The $options_hashref is the same as described in the section on linksearch().

my @rc = $bot->update_rc(5);
foreach my $hashref (@rc) {
    my $title = $hash->{'title'};
    print "$title\n";
}

# Or, use a callback for incremental processing:
my $options = { hook => \&mysub, };
$bot->update_rc($options);
sub mysub {
    my ($res) = @_;
    foreach my $hashref (@$res) {
        my $page = $hashref->{'title'};
        print "$page\n";
    }
}

recentchanges($ns, $limit, $options_hashref)

Returns an array of hashrefs containing recentchanges data. That hashref might contain the following keys:

ns - the namespace number
revid
old_revid
timestamp
rcid - can be used with patrol()
pageid
type - one of edit, new, log, and maybe more
title

By default, the main namespace is used, and limit is set to 50. Pass an arrayref of namespace numbers to get results from several namespaces.

The $options_hashref is the same as described in the section on linksearch().

my @rc = $bot->update_rc(4, 10);
foreach my $hashref (@rc) {
    print $hashref->{'title'} . "\n";
}

# Or, use a callback for incremental processing:
$bot->update_rc(0, 500, { hook => \&mysub });
sub mysub {
    my ($res) = @_;
    foreach my $hashref (@$res) {
        my $page = $hashref->{'title'};
        print "$page\n";
    }
}

what_links_here($page[,$filter[,$ns[,$options]]])

Returns an array containing a list of all pages linking to $page. The array structure contains 'title' and 'redirect' is defined if the title is a redirect. $filter can be one of: all (default), redirects (list only redirects), nonredirects (list only non-redirects). $ns is a namespace number to search (pass an arrayref to search in multiple namespaces). $options is a hashref as described by MediaWiki::API: Set max to limit the number of queries performed. Set hook to a subroutine reference to use a callback hook for incremental processing. Refer to the section on linksearch() for examples.

A typical query:

my @links = $bot->what_links_here("Meta:Sandbox", undef, 1, {hook=>\&mysub});
sub mysub{
    my ($res) = @_;
    foreach my $hash (@$res) {
        my $title = $hash->{'title'};
        my $is_redir = $hash->{'redirect'};
        print "Redirect: $title\n" if $is_redir;
        print "Page: $title\n" unless $is_redir;
    }
}

Transclusions are no longer handled by what_links_here() - use list_transcludes() instead.

list_transclusions($page[,$filter[,$ns[,$options]]])

Returns an array containing a list of all pages transcluding $page. The array structure contains 'title' and 'redirect' is defined if the title is a redirect. $filter can be one of: all (default), redirects (list only redirects), nonredirects (list only non-redirects). $ns is a namespace number to search (pass an arrayref to search in multiple namespaces). $options is a hashref as described by MediaWiki::API: Set max to limit the number of queries performed. Set hook to a subroutine reference to use a callback hook for incremental processing. Refer to the section on linksearch() or what_links_here() for examples.

A typical query:

$bot->list_transclusions("Template:Tlx", undef, 4, {hook => \&mysub});
sub mysub{
    my ($res) = @_;
    foreach my $hash (@$res) {
        my $title = $hash->{'title'};
        my $is_redir = $hash->{'redirect'};
        print "Redirect: $title\n" if $is_redir;
        print "Page: $title\n" unless $is_redir;
    }
}

get_pages_in_category($category_name[,$options_hashref])

Returns an array containing the names of all pages in the specified category (include Category: prefix). Does not recurse into sub-categories.

my @pages = $bot->get_pages_in_category("Category:People on stamps of Gabon");
print "The pages in Category:People on stamps of Gabon are:\n@pages\n";

The options hashref is as described in the section on linksearch(). Use { max => 0 } to get all results.

get_all_pages_in_category($category_name[,$options_hashref])

Returns an array containing the names of ALL pages in the specified category (include the Category: prefix), including sub-categories. The $options_hashref is the same as described for get_pages_in_category().

linksearch($link[,$ns[,$protocol[,$options]]])

Runs a linksearch on the specified link and returns an array containing anonymous hashes with keys 'url' for the outbound URL, and 'title' for the page the link is on. $ns is a namespace number to search (pass an arrayref to search in multiple namespaces). You can search by $protocol (http is default). The optional $options hashref is fully documented in MediaWiki::API: Set `max` to limit the number of queries performed. Set `hook` to a subroutine reference to use a callback hook for incremental processing.

Set max in $options to get more than one query's worth of results:

my $options = { max => 10, }; # I only want some results
my @links = $bot->linksearch("slashdot.org", 1, undef, $options);
foreach my $hash (@links) {
    my $url = $hash->{'url'};
    my $page = $hash->{'title'};
    print "$page: $url\n";
}

You can also specify a callback function in $options:

my $options = { hook => \&mysub, }; # I want to do incremental processing
$bot->linksearch("slashdot.org", 1, undef, $options);
sub mysub {
    my ($res) = @_;
    foreach my $hashref (@$res) {
        my $url  = $hashref->{'url'};
        my $page = $hashref->{'title'};
        print "$page: $url\n";
    }
}

purge_page($pagename)

Purges the server cache of the specified page. Pass an array reference to purge multiple pages. Returns true on success; false on failure. If you really care, a true return value is the number of pages successfully purged. You could check that it is the same as the number you wanted to purge.- maybe some pages don't exist, or you passed invalid titles, or you aren't allowed to purge the cache:

my @to_purge = ('Main Page', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'Very unlikely to exist');
my $size = scalar @to_purge;

print "all-at-once:\n";
my $success = $bot->purge_page(\@to_purge);

if ($success == $size) {
    print "@to_purge: OK ($success/$size)\n";
}
else {
    my $missed = @to_purge - $success;
    print "We couldn't purge $missed pages (list was: "
        . join(', ', @to_purge)
        . ")\n";
}

# OR
print "\n\none-at-a-time:\n";
foreach my $page (@to_purge) {
    my $ok = $bot->purge_page($page);
    print "$page: $ok\n";
}

get_namespace_names()

get_namespace_names returns a hash linking the namespace id, such as 1, to its named equivalent, such as "Talk".

image_usage($image[,$ns[,$filter,[$options]]])

Gets a list of pages which include a certain image. Additional parameters are the namespace number to fetch results from (or an arrayref of multiple namespace numbers); $filter is 'all', 'redirect' (to return only redirects), or 'nonredirects' (to return no redirects). $options is a hashref as described in the section for linksearch().

my @pages = $bot->image_usage("File:Albert Einstein Head.jpg");

or, make use of the options hashref to do incremental processing:

$bot->image_usage("File:Albert Einstein Head.jpg", undef, undef, {hook=>\&mysub, max=>5});
sub mysub {
    my $res = shift;
    foreach my $page (@$res) {
        my $title = $page->{'title'};
        print "$title\n";
    }
}

links_to_image($image)

A backward-compatible call to image_usage(). You can provide only the image name.

is_blocked($user)

Checks if a user is currently blocked.

test_blocked($user)

Retained for backwards compatibility. Use is_blocked($user) for clarity.

test_image_exists($page)

Checks if an image exists at $page. 0 means no, 1 means yes, local, 2 means on commons, 3 means doesn't exist but there is text on the page. If you pass in an arrayref of images, you'll get out an arrayref of results.

my $exists = $bot->test_image_exists('File:Albert Einstein Head.jpg');
if ($exists == 0) {
    print "Doesn't exist\n";
}
elsif ($exists == 1) {
    print "Exists locally\n";
}
elsif ($exists == 2) {
    print "Exists on Commons\n";
}

get_pages_in_namespace($namespace_id, $page_limit)

Returns an array containing the names of all pages in the specified namespace. The $namespace_id must be a number, not a namespace name. Setting $page_limit is optional. If $page_limit is over 500, it will be rounded up to the next multiple of 500.

count_contributions($user)

Uses the API to count $user's contributions.

last_active($user)

Returns the last active time of $user in YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ

recent_edit_to_page($page)

Returns timestamp and username for most recent (top) edit to $page.

get_users($page, $limit, $revision, $direction)

Gets the most recent editors to $page, up to $limit, starting from $revision and goint in $direction.

was_blocked($user)

Returns 1 if $user has ever been blocked.

test_block_hist($user)

Retained for backwards compatibility. Use was_blocked($user) for clarity.

expandtemplates($page[, $text])

Expands templates on $page, using $text if provided, otherwise loading the page text automatically.

get_allusers($limit, $group, $opts)

Returns an array of all users. Default limit is 500. Optionally specify a group to list that group only. The last optional parameter is an options hashref, as detailed elsewhere.

db_to_domain($wiki)

Converts a wiki/database name (enwiki) to the domain name (en.wikipedia.org).

my @wikis = ("enwiki", "kowiki", "bat-smgwiki", "nonexistent");
foreach my $wiki (@wikis) {
    my $domain = $bot->db_to_domain($wiki);
    next if !defined($domain);
    print "$wiki: $domain\n";
}

You can pass an arrayref to do bulk lookup:

my @wikis = ("enwiki", "kowiki", "bat-smgwiki", "nonexistent");
my $domains = $bot->db_to_domain(\@wikis);
foreach my $domain (@$domains) {
    next if !defined($domain);
    print "$domain\n";
}

domain_to_db($wiki)

As you might expect, does the opposite of domain_to_db(): Converts a domain name into a database/wiki name.

diff($options_hashref)

This allows retrieval of a diff from the API. The return is a scalar containing the HTML table of the diff. Options are as follows:

title is the title to use. Provide either this or revid.
revid is any revid to diff from. If you also specified title, only title will be honoured.
oldid is an identifier to diff to. This can be a revid, or the special values 'cur', 'prev' or 'next'

prefixindex($prefix[,$filter[,$ns[,$options]]])

This returns an array of hashrefs containing page titles that start with the given $prefix. $filter is one of 'all', 'redirects', or 'nonredirects'; $ns is a single namespace number (unlike linksearch etc, which can accept an arrayref of numbers). $options is a hashref as described in the section on linksearch() or in MediaWiki::API. The hashref has keys 'title' and 'redirect' (present if the page is a redirect, not present otherwise).

my @prefix_pages = $bot->prefixindex("User:Mike.lifeguard");
# Or, the more efficient equivalent
my @prefix_pages = $bot->prefixindex("Mike.lifeguard", 2);
foreach my $hashref (@pages) {
    my $title = $hashref->{'title'};
    if $hashref->{'redirect'} {
        print "$title is a redirect\n";
    }
    else {
        print "$title\n is not a redirect\n";
    }
}

search($search_term[,$ns[,$options_hashref]])

This is a simple search for your $search_term in page text. $ns is a namespace number to search in, or an arrayref of numbers (default is main namespace). $options_hashref is a hashref as described in MediaWiki::API or the section on linksearch(). It returns an array of page titles matching.

my @pages = $bot->search("Mike.lifeguard", 2);
print "@pages\n";

Or, use a callback for incremental processing:

my @pages = $bot->search("Mike.lifeguard", 2, { hook => \&mysub });
sub mysub {
    my ($res) = @_;
    foreach my $hashref (@$res) {
        my $page = $hashref->{'title'};
        print "$page\n";
    }
}

get_log($data, $options)

This fetches log entries, and returns results as an array of hashes. The options are as follows:

type is the log type (block, delete...)
user is the user who performed the action. Do not include the User: prefix
target is the target of the action. Where an action was performed to a page, it is the page title. Where an action was performed to a user, it is User:$username.

my $log = $bot->get_log({
        type => 'block',
        user => 'User:Mike.lifeguard',
    });
foreach my $entry (@$log) {
    my $user = $entry->{'title'};
    print "$user\n";
}

$bot->get_log({
        type => 'block',
        user => 'User:Mike.lifeguard',
    },
    { hook => \&mysub, max => 10 }
);
sub mysub {
    my ($res) = @_;
    foreach my $hashref (@$res) {
        my $title = $hashref->{'title'};
        print "$title\n";
    }
}

is_g_blocked($ip)

Returns what IP/range block currently in place affects the IP/range. The return is a scalar of an IP/range if found (evaluates to true in boolean context); undef otherwise (evaluates false in boolean context). Pass in a single IP or CIDR range.

was_g_blocked($ip)

Returns whether an IP/range was ever globally blocked. You should probably call this method only when your bot is operating on Meta.

was_locked($user)

Returns whether a user was ever locked.

get_protection($page)

Returns data on page protection. If you care beyond true/false, information about page protection is returned as a array of up to two hashrefs. Each hashref has a type, level, and expiry. Levels are 'sysop' and 'autoconfirmed'; types are 'move' and 'edit'; expiry is a timestamp. Additionally, the key 'cascade' will exist if cascading protection is used.

my $page = "Main Page";
$bot->edit({
    page    => $page,
    text    => rand(),
    summary => 'test',
}) unless $bot->get_protection($page);

You can also pass an arrayref of page titles to do bulk queries:

my @pages = ("Main Page", "User:Mike.lifeguard", "Project:Sandbox");
my $answer = $bot->get_protection(\@pages);
foreach my $title (keys %$answer) {
    my $protected = $answer->{$title};
    print "$title is protected\n" if $protected;
    print "$title is unprotected\n" unless $protected;
}

is_protected($page)

This is a synonym for get_protection(), which should be used in preference.

patrol($rcid)

Marks a page or revision identified by the rcid as patrolled. To mark several rcids as patrolled, you may pass an arrayref.

email($user, $subject, $body)

This allows you to send emails through the wiki. All 3 of $user (without the User: prefix), $subject and $body are required. If $user is an arrayref, this will send the same email (subject and body) to all users.

top_edits($user[,$options])

Returns an array of the page titles where the user is the latest editor.

my @pages = $bot->top_edits("Mike.lifeguard", {max => 5});
foreach my $page (@pages) {
    $bot->rollback($page, "Mike.lifeguard");
}

Note that accessing the data with a callback happens before filtering the top edits is done. For that reason, you should use contributions() if you need to use a callback. If you use a callback with top_edits(), you will not get top edits returned. It is safe to use a callback if you check that it is a top edit:

$bot->top_edits("Mike.lifeguard", { hook => \&rv });
sub rv {
    my $data = shift;
    foreach my $page (@$data) {
        if (exists($page->{'top'})) {
            $bot->rollback($page->{'title'}, "Mike.lifeguard");
        }
    }
}

contributions($user, $ns, $options)

Returns an array of hashrefs of data for the user's contributions. $ns can be an arrayref of namespace numbers.

ERROR HANDLING

All functions will return undef in any handled error situation. Further error data is stored in $bot->{'error'}->{'code'} and $bot->{'error'}->{'details'}.

AUTHORS

Dan Collins <en.wp.st47@gmail.com>
Mike.lifeguard <mike.lifeguard@gmail.com>
Alex Rowe <alex.d.rowe@gmail.com>
Oleg Alexandrov <oleg.alexandrov@gmail.com>
jmax.code <jmax.code@gmail.com>
Stefan Petrea <stefan.petrea@gmail.com>
kc2aei <kc2aei@gmail.com>
bosborne@alum.mit.edu
Brian Obio <brianobio@gmail.com>
patch and bug report contributors

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This is free software, licensed under:

The GNU General Public License, Version 3, June 2007

To install MediaWiki::Bot, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm MediaWiki::Bot

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install MediaWiki::Bot

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

	Global
`s`	Focus search bar
`?`	Bring up this help dialog

	GitHub
`g` `p`	Go to pull requests
`g` `i`	go to github issues (only if github is preferred repository)

	POD
`g` `a`	Go to author
`g` `c`	Go to changes
`g` `i`	Go to issues
`g` `d`	Go to dist
`g` `r`	Go to repository/SCM
`g` `s`	Go to source
`g` `b`	Go to file browse

	Search terms
module: (e.g. module:Plugin)
distribution: (e.g. distribution:Dancer auth)
author: (e.g. author:SONGMU Redis)
version: (e.g. version:1.00)