HTTP::BrowserDetect - Determine the Web browser, version, and platform from an HTTP user agent string

    use HTTP::BrowserDetect;

    my $browser = new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string);

    # Detect operating system
    if ($browser->windows) {
      if ($browser->winnt) ...
      if ($brorwser->win95) ...
    }
    print $browser->mac;

    # Detect browser vendor and version
    print $browser->netscape;
    print $browser->ie;
    if (browser->major(4)) {
        if ($browser->minor() > .5) {
            ...
        }
    }
    if ($browser->version() > 4) {
      ...;
    }

    # Process a different user agent string
    $browser->user_agent($another_user_agent_string);

The HTTP::BrowserDetect object does a number of tests on an HTTP user agent string. The results of these tests are available via methods of the object.

This module is based upon the JavaScript browser detection code available at http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string)

The constructor may be called with a user agent string specified. Otherwise, it will use the value specified by CW$ENV{'HTTP_USER_AGENT'}, which is set by the web server when calling a CGI script. You may also use a non-object-oriented interface. For each method, you may call HTTP::BrowserDetect::method_name(). You will then be working with a default HTTP::BrowserDetect object that is created behind the scenes.

user_agent($user_agent_string)

Returns the value of the user agent string. When called with a parameter, it resets the user agent and reperforms all tests on the string. This way you can process a series of user agent strings (from a log file, perhaps) without creating a new HTTP::BrowserDetect object each time.

major($major)

Returns the integer portion of the browser version. If passed a parameter, returns true if it equals the browser major version.

minor($minor)

Returns the decimal portion of the browser version as a floating-point number less than 1. For example, if the version is 4.05, this method returns .05; if the version is 4.5, this method returns .5. This is a change in behavior from previous versions of this module, which returned a string. If passed a parameter, returns true if equals the minor version. On occasion a version may have more than one decimal point, such as 'Wget/1.4.5'. The minor version does not include the second decimal point, or any further digits or decimals.

version($version)

Returns the version as a floating-point number. If passed a parameter, returns true if it is equal to the version specified by the user agent string.

beta($beta)

Returns any the beta version, consisting of any non-numeric characters after the version number. For instance, if the user agent string is 'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0b2; Windows NT)', returns 'b2'. If passed a parameter, returns true if equal to the beta version. If the beta starts with a dot, it is thrown away.

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value. Some methods also test for the operating system version. The indentations below show the hierarchy of tests (for example, win2k is considered a type of winnt, which is a type of win32)

  windows 
    win16 win3x win31  
    win32 
        winme win95 win98
        winnt
            win2k winxp
  dotnet

  mac 
    mac68k macppc macosx

  os2

  unix 
    sun sun4 sun5 suni86 irix irix5 irix6 hpux hpux9 hpux10 
    aix aix1 aix2 aix3 aix4 linux sco unixware mpras reliant 
    dec sinix freebsd bsd

  vms

  amiga

It may not be possibile to detect Win98 in Netscape 4.x and earlier. On Opera 3.0, the userAgent string includes Windows 95/NT4 on all Win32, so you can't distinguish between Win95 and WinNT.

os_string()

Returns one of the following strings, or undef. This method exists solely for compatibility with the HTTP::Headers::UserAgent module.

  Win95, Win98, WinNT, Win2K, WinXP, Mac, Mac OS X, Win3x, OS2, Unix, Linux

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value. Some methods also test for the browser version, saving you from checking the version separately.

  netscape nav2 nav3 nav4 nav4up nav45 nav45up navgold nav6 nav6up
  gecko 
  mozilla
  firefox 
  safari
  ie ie3 ie4 ie4up ie5 ie55 ie6
  neoplanet neoplanet2 
  mosaic
  aol aol3 aol4 aol5 aol6
  webtv
  opera opera3 opera4 opera5 opera6 opera7
  lynx links
  emacs
  staroffice
  lotusnotes
  icab
  konqueror
  java
  curl

Netscape 6, even though its called six, in the userAgent string has version number 5. The nav6 and nav6up methods correctly handle this quirk. The firefox text correctly detects the older-named versions of the browser (Phoenix, Firebird)

browser_string()

Returns one of the following strings, or undef. Netscape, MSIE, WebTV, AOL Browser, Opera, Mosaic, Lynx

gecko_version()

If a Gecko rendering engine is used (as in Mozilla or Firebird), returns the version of the renderer (e.g. 1.3a, 1.7, 1.8) This might be more useful than the particular browser name or version when correcting for quirks in different versions of this rendering engine. If no Gecko browser is being used, or the version number can't be detected, returns undef.

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value.

  wap
  audrey
  iopener
  palm
  avantgo
  blackberry

robot()

Returns true if the user agent appears to be a robot, spider, crawler, or other automated Web client.

The following additional methods are available, each returning a true or false value. This is by no means a complete list of robots that exist on the Web.

  wget
  getright
  yahoo 
  altavista 
  lycos 
  infoseek 
  lwp
  webcrawler 
  linkexchange 
  slurp 
  google

Lee Semel, lee@semel.net

Thanks to Leonardo Herrera for additional contributions

The Ultimate JavaScript Client Sniffer, Version 3.0, http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

Browser ID (User-Agent) Strings http://www.zytrax.com/tech/web/browser_ids.htm

perl(1), HTTP::Headers, HTTP::Headers::UserAgent.

Copyright 1999-2004 Lee Semel. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.