Re: Function to download a URL and return it as a string

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

Sean McAfee <eefacm@gmail.com> writes:

> I recently wanted to be able to download a document from a URL and
> return it as a string.  I couldn't find a function that did that
> precisely, but I was able to construct my own:
>
> (defun download (url)
>   (with-current-buffer (url-retrieve-synchronously url)
>     (prog2
>         (when (not (search-forward-regexp "^$" nil t))
>           (error "Unable to locate downloaded data"))
>         (buffer-substring (1+ (point)) (point-max))
>       (kill-buffer))))
>
> This seems rather busy for such a basic-seeming operation--in
> particular, having to take care to delete the buffer created by
> url-retrieve-synchronously.  Is there a better way to do it?
>
> (On the other hand, this way I get to use prog2, which I almost never
> do.)

Notice that you cannot just receive the bytes of the ressource.  At the
very least, you also need the Content-Type:.  So don't feel this header
is a bad thing.

I would have used (search-forward "\n\n"): 

(defun download (url)
  (with-current-buffer (url-retrieve-synchronously url)
     (prog1 (buffer-substring (or (search-forward "\n\n" nil t) (point-min)) 
                              (point-max))
       (kill-buffer))))
  
-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/
A bad day in () is better than a good day in {}.