Scripting-language for interacting with World Wide Web?

From: Baard Ove Kopperud (baard.kopperud_at_bigfoot.com)
Date: 06/21/04 

Date: 21 Jun 2004 06:36:14 -0700

I'm in need of a scripting-language/library/extension that enables
me to make scripts for non-interactive interaction with World Wide Web
(web-pages). What I need is something like a cross between 'wget'
and 'expect'.

I know there was something for 'perl' called 'elza', but as far as
I can understand, work on 'elza' stopped ages ago. The primary
download-site is also closed (gone commercial)... all I found was
an old(?) version at Debian.

Does anyone know if 'elza' is still being worked on? Are there
any similar tools out there (for 'perl' or other languages)?
Are there any specilized lanuages (e.g. based on LISP, Forth,...)?
An ability to handle other protocols (FTP, NNTP, POP, IMAP, SMTP)
would be a pluss.

To help you suggest something suitable, here is a range of intended usage:
*Automatic log-in to accounts for web-based services to prevent
 deletion. Would require correct handling of cookies and secure
 connections. I intend to make a list of URL and username/password
 pairs for the script to parse. The script could be run by cron.
 (That I don't *use* what I have signed-up for once long, long ago,
 don't mean I want to loose my account :-).
*Downloading multi-chaptered stories from various sites (e.g.
 fanfiction.net) automatically after specifying a story-id. Some
 of the site requires log-in.
*Automatically downloading a range of messages from various Yahoo-groups
 (and similar services). Requires log-in.
*Automatically download web-based mail (e.g. Yahoo).

-Koppe

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