Class | CGI
In: | cgi.rb cgi/session.rb cgi/session/pstore.rb
Parent: | Object

CGI class. See documentation for the file cgi.rb for an overview of the CGI protocol.

## Introduction

CGI is a large class, providing several categories of methods, many of which are mixed in from other modules. Some of the documentation is in this class, some in the modules CGI::QueryExtension and CGI::HtmlExtension. See CGI::Cookie for specific information on handling cookies, and cgi/session.rb (CGI::Session) for information on sessions.

For queries, CGI provides methods to get at environmental variables, parameters, cookies, and multipart request data. For responses, CGI provides methods for writing output and generating HTML.

Read on for more details. Examples are provided at the bottom.

## Queries

The CGI class dynamically mixes in parameter and cookie-parsing functionality, environmental variable access, and support for parsing multipart requests (including uploaded files) from the CGI::QueryExtension module.

### Environmental Variables

The standard CGI environmental variables are available as read-only attributes of a CGI object. The following is a list of these variables:

      AUTH_TYPE               HTTP_HOST          REMOTE_IDENT
      CONTENT_LENGTH          HTTP_NEGOTIATE     REMOTE_USER
      CONTENT_TYPE            HTTP_PRAGMA        REQUEST_METHOD
      GATEWAY_INTERFACE       HTTP_REFERER       SCRIPT_NAME
      HTTP_ACCEPT             HTTP_USER_AGENT    SERVER_NAME
      HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET     PATH_INFO          SERVER_PORT
      HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING    PATH_TRANSLATED    SERVER_PROTOCOL
      HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE    QUERY_STRING       SERVER_SOFTWARE
      HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL      REMOTE_ADDR
      HTTP_FROM               REMOTE_HOST

For each of these variables, there is a corresponding attribute with the same name, except all lower case and without a preceding HTTP_. `content_length` and `server_port` are integers; the rest are strings.

### Parameters

The method params() returns a hash of all parameters in the request as name/value-list pairs, where the value-list is an Array of one or more values. The CGI object itself also behaves as a hash of parameter names to values, but only returns a single value (as a String) for each parameter name.

For instance, suppose the request contains the parameter "favourite_colours" with the multiple values "blue" and "green". The following behaviour would occur:

      cgi.params["favourite_colours"]  # => ["blue", "green"]
      cgi["favourite_colours"]         # => "blue"

If a parameter does not exist, the former method will return an empty array, the latter an empty string. The simplest way to test for existence of a parameter is by the has_key? method.

### Cookies

HTTP Cookies are automatically parsed from the request. They are available from the cookies() accessor, which returns a hash from cookie name to CGI::Cookie object.

### Multipart requests

If a request’s method is POST and its content type is multipart/form-data, then it may contain uploaded files. These are stored by the QueryExtension module in the parameters of the request. The parameter name is the name attribute of the file input field, as usual. However, the value is not a string, but an IO object, either an IOString for small files, or a Tempfile for larger ones. This object also has the additional singleton methods:

local_path(): | the path of the uploaded file on the local filesystem
original_filename(): | the name of the file on the client computer
content_type(): | the content type of the file

## Responses

The CGI class provides methods for sending header and content output to the HTTP client, and mixes in methods for programmatic HTML generation from CGI::HtmlExtension and CGI::TagMaker modules. The precise version of HTML to use for HTML generation is specified at object creation time.

### Writing output

The simplest way to send output to the HTTP client is using the out() method. This takes the HTTP headers as a hash parameter, and the body content via a block. The headers can be generated as a string using the header() method. The output stream can be written directly to using the print() method.

### Generating HTML

Each HTML element has a corresponding method for generating that element as a String. The name of this method is the same as that of the element, all lowercase. The attributes of the element are passed in as a hash, and the body as a no-argument block that evaluates to a String. The HTML generation module knows which elements are always empty, and silently drops any passed-in body. It also knows which elements require matching closing tags and which don’t. However, it does not know what attributes are legal for which elements.

There are also some additional HTML generation methods mixed in from the CGI::HtmlExtension module. These include individual methods for the different types of form inputs, and methods for elements that commonly take particular attributes where the attributes can be directly specified as arguments, rather than via a hash.

## Examples of use

### Get form values

      require "cgi"
      cgi = CGI.new
      value = cgi['field_name']   # <== value string for 'field_name'
        # if not 'field_name' included, then return "".
      fields = cgi.keys            # <== array of field names

      # returns true if form has 'field_name'
      cgi.has_key?('field_name')
      cgi.has_key?('field_name')
      cgi.include?('field_name')

CAUTION! cgi[‘field_name’] returned an Array with the old cgi.rb(included in ruby 1.6)

### Get form values as hash

      require "cgi"
      cgi = CGI.new
      params = cgi.params

cgi.params is a hash.

      cgi.params['new_field_name'] = ["value"]  # add new param
      cgi.params['field_name'] = ["new_value"]  # change value
      cgi.params.delete('field_name')           # delete param
      cgi.params.clear                          # delete all params

### Save form values to file

      require "pstore"
      db = PStore.new("query.db")
      db.transaction do
        db["params"] = cgi.params
      end

### Restore form values from file

      require "pstore"
      db = PStore.new("query.db")
      db.transaction do
        cgi.params = db["params"]
      end

### Get multipart form values

      require "cgi"
      cgi = CGI.new
      value = cgi['field_name']   # <== value string for 'field_name'
      value.read                  # <== body of value
      value.local_path            # <== path to local file of value
      value.original_filename     # <== original filename of value
      value.content_type          # <== content_type of value

and value has StringIO or Tempfile class methods.

### Get cookie values

      require "cgi"
      cgi = CGI.new
      values = cgi.cookies['name']  # <== array of 'name'
        # if not 'name' included, then return [].
      names = cgi.cookies.keys      # <== array of cookie names

and cgi.cookies is a hash.

### Get cookie objects

      require "cgi"
      cgi = CGI.new
      for name, cookie in cgi.cookies
        cookie.expires = Time.now + 30
      end
      cgi.out("cookie" => cgi.cookies) {"string"}

      cgi.cookies # { "name1" => cookie1, "name2" => cookie2, ... }

      require "cgi"
      cgi = CGI.new
      cgi.cookies['name'].expires = Time.now + 30
      cgi.out("cookie" => cgi.cookies['name']) {"string"}

### Print http header and html string to $DEFAULT_OUTPUT ($>)

      require "cgi"
      cgi = CGI.new("html3")  # add HTML generation methods
      cgi.out() do
        cgi.html() do
          cgi.head{ cgi.title{"TITLE"} } +
          cgi.body() do
            cgi.form() do
              cgi.textarea("get_text") +
              cgi.br +
              cgi.submit
            end +
            cgi.pre() do
              CGI::escapeHTML(
                "params: " + cgi.params.inspect + "\n" +
                "cookies: " + cgi.cookies.inspect + "\n" +
                ENV.collect() do |key, value|
                  key + " --> " + value + "\n"
                end.join("")
              )
            end
          end
        end
      end

      # add HTML generation methods
      CGI.new("html3")    # html3.2
      CGI.new("html4")    # html4.01 (Strict)
      CGI.new("html4Tr")  # html4.01 Transitional
      CGI.new("html4Fr")  # html4.01 Frameset

### Methods

escape escapeElement escapeHTML header new out parse pretty print rfc1123_date unescape unescapeElement unescapeHTML

### Classes and Modules

Module CGI::HtmlExtension
Module CGI::QueryExtension
Class CGI::Cookie
Class CGI::Session

### Public Class methods

escape(string)

URL-encode a string.

      url_encoded_string = CGI::escape("'Stop!' said Fred")
         # => "%27Stop%21%27+said+Fred"

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 341
      def CGI::escape(string)
        string.gsub(/([^ a-zA-Z0-9_.-]+)/n) do
          '%' + $1.unpack('H2' * $1.size).join('%').upcase
        end.tr(' ', '+')
      end

escapeElement(string, *elements)

Escape only the tags of certain HTML elements in `string`.

Takes an element or elements or array of elements. Each element is specified by the name of the element, without angle brackets. This matches both the start and the end tag of that element. The attribute list of the open tag will also be escaped (for instance, the double-quotes surrounding attribute values).

      print CGI::escapeElement('<BR><A HREF="url"></A>', "A", "IMG")
        # "<BR>&lt;A HREF=&quot;url&quot;&gt;&lt;/A&gt"

      print CGI::escapeElement('<BR><A HREF="url"></A>', ["A", "IMG"])
        # "<BR>&lt;A HREF=&quot;url&quot;&gt;&lt;/A&gt"

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 417
      def CGI::escapeElement(string, *elements)
        elements = elements[0] if elements[0].kind_of?(Array)
        unless elements.empty?
          string.gsub(/<\/?(?:#{elements.join("|")})(?!\w)(?:.|\n)*?>/ni) do
            CGI::escapeHTML($&)
          end
        else
          string
        end
      end

escapeHTML(string)

Escape special characters in HTML, namely &\"<>

      CGI::escapeHTML('Usage: foo "bar" <baz>')
         # => "Usage: foo &quot;bar&quot; &lt;baz&gt;"

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 361
      def CGI::escapeHTML(string)
        string.gsub(/&/n, '&amp;').gsub(/\"/n, '&quot;').gsub(/>/n, '&gt;').gsub(/</n, '&lt;')
      end

new(type = "query")

Creates a new CGI instance.

`type` specifies which version of HTML to load the HTML generation methods for. The following versions of HTML are supported:

html3: | HTML 3.x
html4: | HTML 4.0
html4Tr: | HTML 4.0 Transitional
html4Fr: | HTML 4.0 with Framesets

If not specified, no HTML generation methods will be loaded.

If the CGI object is not created in a standard CGI call environment (that is, it can’t locate REQUEST_METHOD in its environment), then it will run in "offline" mode. In this mode, it reads its parameters from the command line or (failing that) from standard input. Otherwise, cookies and other parameters are parsed automatically from the standard CGI locations, which varies according to the REQUEST_METHOD.

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 2283
      def initialize(type = "query")
        if defined?(MOD_RUBY) && !ENV.key?("GATEWAY_INTERFACE")
          Apache.request.setup_cgi_env
        end

        extend QueryExtension
        @multipart = false
        if defined?(CGI_PARAMS)
          warn "do not use CGI_PARAMS and CGI_COOKIES"
          @params = CGI_PARAMS.dup
          @cookies = CGI_COOKIES.dup
        else
          initialize_query()  # set @params, @cookies
        end
        @output_cookies = nil
        @output_hidden = nil

        case type
        when "html3"
          extend Html3
          element_init()
          extend HtmlExtension
        when "html4"
          extend Html4
          element_init()
          extend HtmlExtension
        when "html4Tr"
          extend Html4Tr
          element_init()
          extend HtmlExtension
        when "html4Fr"
          extend Html4Tr
          element_init()
          extend Html4Fr
          element_init()
          extend HtmlExtension
        end
      end

parse(query)

Parse an HTTP query string into a hash of key=>value pairs.

      params = CGI::parse("query_string")
        # {"name1" => ["value1", "value2", ...],
        #  "name2" => ["value1", "value2", ...], ... }

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 894
      def CGI::parse(query)
        params = Hash.new([].freeze)

        query.split(/[&;]/n).each do |pairs|
          key, value = pairs.split('=',2).collect{|v| CGI::unescape(v) }
          if params.has_key?(key)
            params[key].push(value)
          else
            params[key] = [value]
          end
        end

        params
      end

pretty(string, shift = " ")

Prettify (indent) an HTML string.

`string` is the HTML string to indent. `shift` is the indentation unit to use; it defaults to two spaces.

      print CGI::pretty("<HTML><BODY></BODY></HTML>")
        # <HTML>
        #   <BODY>
        #   </BODY>
        # </HTML>

      print CGI::pretty("<HTML><BODY></BODY></HTML>", "\t")
        # <HTML>
        #         <BODY>
        #         </BODY>
        # </HTML>

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 1210
      def CGI::pretty(string, shift = "  ")
        lines = string.gsub(/(?!\A)<(?:.|\n)*?>/n, "\n\\0").gsub(/<(?:.|\n)*?>(?!\n)/n, "\\0\n")
        end_pos = 0
        while end_pos = lines.index(/^<\/(\w+)/n, end_pos)
          element = $1.dup
          start_pos = lines.rindex(/^\s*<#{element}/ni, end_pos)
          lines[start_pos ... end_pos] = "__" + lines[start_pos ... end_pos].gsub(/\n(?!\z)/n, "\n" + shift) + "__"
        end
        lines.gsub(/^((?:#{Regexp::quote(shift)})*)__(?=<\/?\w)/n, '\1')
      end

rfc1123_date(time)

Format a `Time` object as a String using the format specified by RFC 1123.

      CGI::rfc1123_date(Time.now)
        # Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 454
      def CGI::rfc1123_date(time)
        t = time.clone.gmtime
        return format("%s, %.2d %s %.4d %.2d:%.2d:%.2d GMT",
                    RFC822_DAYS[t.wday], t.day, RFC822_MONTHS[t.month-1], t.year,
                    t.hour, t.min, t.sec)
      end

unescape(string)

URL-decode a string.

      string = CGI::unescape("%27Stop%21%27+said+Fred")
         # => "'Stop!' said Fred"

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 351
      def CGI::unescape(string)
        string.tr('+', ' ').gsub(/((?:%[0-9a-fA-F]{2})+)/n) do
          [$1.delete('%')].pack('H*')
        end
      end

unescapeElement(string, *elements)

Undo escaping such as that done by CGI::escapeElement()

      print CGI::unescapeElement(
              CGI::escapeHTML('<BR><A HREF="url"></A>'), "A", "IMG")
        # "&lt;BR&gt;<A HREF="url"></A>"

      print CGI::unescapeElement(
              CGI::escapeHTML('<BR><A HREF="url"></A>'), ["A", "IMG"])
        # "&lt;BR&gt;<A HREF="url"></A>"

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 438
      def CGI::unescapeElement(string, *elements)
        elements = elements[0] if elements[0].kind_of?(Array)
        unless elements.empty?
          string.gsub(/&lt;\/?(?:#{elements.join("|")})(?!\w)(?:.|\n)*?&gt;/ni) do
            CGI::unescapeHTML($&)
          end
        else
          string
        end
      end

unescapeHTML(string)

Unescape a string that has been HTML-escaped

      CGI::unescapeHTML("Usage: foo &quot;bar&quot; &lt;baz&gt;")
         # => "Usage: foo \"bar\" <baz>"

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 369
      def CGI::unescapeHTML(string)
        string.gsub(/&(.*?);/n) do
          match = $1.dup
          case match
          when /\Aamp\z/ni           then '&'
          when /\Aquot\z/ni          then '"'
          when /\Agt\z/ni            then '>'
          when /\Alt\z/ni            then '<'
          when /\A#0*(\d+)\z/n       then
            if Integer($1) < 256
              Integer($1).chr
            else
              if Integer($1) < 65536 and ($KCODE[0] == ?u or $KCODE[0] == ?U)
                [Integer($1)].pack("U")
              else
                "&##{$1};"
              end
            end
          when /\A#x([0-9a-f]+)\z/ni then
            if $1.hex < 256
              $1.hex.chr
            else
              if $1.hex < 65536 and ($KCODE[0] == ?u or $KCODE[0] == ?U)
                [$1.hex].pack("U")
              else
                "&#x#{$1};"
              end
            end
          else
            "&#{match};"
          end
        end
      end

### Public Instance methods

header(options = "text/html")

Create an HTTP header block as a string.

Includes the empty line that ends the header block.

`options` can be a string specifying the Content-Type (defaults to text/html), or a hash of header key/value pairs. The following header keys are recognized:

type: | the Content-Type header. Defaults to "text/html"
charset: | the charset of the body, appended to the Content-Type header.
nph: | a boolean value. If true, prepend protocol string and status code, and date; and sets default values for "server" and "connection" if not explicitly set.
status: | the HTTP status code, returned as the Status header. See the list of available status codes below.
server: | the server software, returned as the Server header.
connection: | the connection type, returned as the Connection header (for instance, "close".
length: | the length of the content that will be sent, returned as the Content-Length header.
language: | the language of the content, returned as the Content-Language header.
expires: | the time on which the current content expires, as a `Time` object, returned as the Expires header.
cookie: | a cookie or cookies, returned as one or more Set-Cookie headers. The value can be the literal string of the cookie; a CGI::Cookie object; an Array of literal cookie strings or Cookie objects; or a hash all of whose values are literal cookie strings or Cookie objects. These cookies are in addition to the cookies held in the @output_cookies field.

Other header lines can also be set; they are appended as key: value.

      header
        # Content-Type: text/html

      header("text/plain")
        # Content-Type: text/plain

      header("nph"        => true,
             "status"     => "OK",  # == "200 OK"
               # "status"     => "200 GOOD",
             "server"     => ENV['SERVER_SOFTWARE'],
             "connection" => "close",
             "type"       => "text/html",
             "charset"    => "iso-2022-jp",
               # Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp
             "length"     => 103,
             "language"   => "ja",
             "expires"    => Time.now + 30,
             "cookie"     => [cookie1, cookie2],
             "my_header1" => "my_value"
             "my_header2" => "my_value")

The status codes are:

      "OK"                  --> "200 OK"
      "PARTIAL_CONTENT"     --> "206 Partial Content"
      "MULTIPLE_CHOICES"    --> "300 Multiple Choices"
      "MOVED"               --> "301 Moved Permanently"
      "REDIRECT"            --> "302 Found"
      "NOT_MODIFIED"        --> "304 Not Modified"
      "BAD_REQUEST"         --> "400 Bad Request"
      "AUTH_REQUIRED"       --> "401 Authorization Required"
      "FORBIDDEN"           --> "403 Forbidden"
      "NOT_FOUND"           --> "404 Not Found"
      "METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED"  --> "405 Method Not Allowed"
      "NOT_ACCEPTABLE"      --> "406 Not Acceptable"
      "LENGTH_REQUIRED"     --> "411 Length Required"
      "PRECONDITION_FAILED" --> "412 Precondition Failed"
      "SERVER_ERROR"        --> "500 Internal Server Error"
      "NOT_IMPLEMENTED"     --> "501 Method Not Implemented"
      "BAD_GATEWAY"         --> "502 Bad Gateway"
      "VARIANT_ALSO_VARIES" --> "506 Variant Also Negotiates"

This method does not perform charset conversion.

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 539
      def header(options = "text/html")

        buf = ""

        case options
        when String
          options = { "type" => options }
        when Hash
          options = options.dup
        end

        unless options.has_key?("type")
          options["type"] = "text/html"
        end

        if options.has_key?("charset")
          options["type"] += "; charset=" + options.delete("charset")
        end

        options.delete("nph") if defined?(MOD_RUBY)
        if options.delete("nph") or /IIS/n.match(env_table['SERVER_SOFTWARE'])
          buf += (env_table["SERVER_PROTOCOL"] or "HTTP/1.0")  + " " +
                 (HTTP_STATUS[options["status"]] or options["status"] or "200 OK") +
                 EOL +
                 "Date: " + CGI::rfc1123_date(Time.now) + EOL

          unless options.has_key?("server")
            options["server"] = (env_table['SERVER_SOFTWARE'] or "")
          end

          unless options.has_key?("connection")
            options["connection"] = "close"
          end

          options.delete("status")
        end

        if options.has_key?("status")
          buf += "Status: " +
                 (HTTP_STATUS[options["status"]] or options["status"]) + EOL
          options.delete("status")
        end

        if options.has_key?("server")
          buf += "Server: " + options.delete("server") + EOL
        end

        if options.has_key?("connection")
          buf += "Connection: " + options.delete("connection") + EOL
        end

        buf += "Content-Type: " + options.delete("type") + EOL

        if options.has_key?("length")
          buf += "Content-Length: " + options.delete("length").to_s + EOL
        end

        if options.has_key?("language")
          buf += "Content-Language: " + options.delete("language") + EOL
        end

        if options.has_key?("expires")
          buf += "Expires: " + CGI::rfc1123_date( options.delete("expires") ) + EOL
        end

        if options.has_key?("cookie")
          if options["cookie"].kind_of?(String) or
               options["cookie"].kind_of?(Cookie)
            buf += "Set-Cookie: " + options.delete("cookie").to_s + EOL
          elsif options["cookie"].kind_of?(Array)
            options.delete("cookie").each{|cookie|
              buf += "Set-Cookie: " + cookie.to_s + EOL
            }
          elsif options["cookie"].kind_of?(Hash)
            options.delete("cookie").each_value{|cookie|
              buf += "Set-Cookie: " + cookie.to_s + EOL
            }
          end
        end
        if @output_cookies
          for cookie in @output_cookies
            buf += "Set-Cookie: " + cookie.to_s + EOL
          end
        end

        options.each{|key, value|
          buf += key + ": " + value.to_s + EOL
        }

        if defined?(MOD_RUBY)
          table = Apache::request.headers_out
          buf.scan(/([^:]+): (.+)#{EOL}/n){ |name, value|
            warn sprintf("name:%s value:%s\n", name, value) if $DEBUG
            case name
            when 'Set-Cookie'
              table.add(name, value)
            when /^status$/ni
              Apache::request.status_line = value
              Apache::request.status = value.to_i
            when /^content-type$/ni
              Apache::request.content_type = value
            when /^content-encoding$/ni
              Apache::request.content_encoding = value
            when /^location$/ni
              if Apache::request.status == 200
                Apache::request.status = 302
              end
              Apache::request.headers_out[name] = value
            else
              Apache::request.headers_out[name] = value
            end
          }
          Apache::request.send_http_header
          ''
        else
          buf + EOL
        end

      end

out(options = "text/html") {|| ...}

Print an HTTP header and body to $DEFAULT_OUTPUT ($>)

The header is provided by `options`, as for header(). The body of the document is that returned by the passed- in block. This block takes no arguments. It is required.

      cgi = CGI.new
      cgi.out{ "string" }
        # Content-Type: text/html
        # Content-Length: 6
        #
        # string

      cgi.out("text/plain") { "string" }
        # Content-Type: text/plain
        # Content-Length: 6
        #
        # string

      cgi.out("nph"        => true,
              "status"     => "OK",  # == "200 OK"
              "server"     => ENV['SERVER_SOFTWARE'],
              "connection" => "close",
              "type"       => "text/html",
              "charset"    => "iso-2022-jp",
                # Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp
              "language"   => "ja",
              "expires"    => Time.now + (3600 * 24 * 30),
              "cookie"     => [cookie1, cookie2],
              "my_header1" => "my_value",
              "my_header2" => "my_value") { "string" }

Content-Length is automatically calculated from the size of the String returned by the content block.

If ENV[‘REQUEST_METHOD’] == "HEAD", then only the header is outputted (the content block is still required, but it is ignored).

If the charset is "iso-2022-jp" or "euc-jp" or "shift_jis" then the content is converted to this charset, and the language is set to "ja".

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 702
      def out(options = "text/html") # :yield:

        options = { "type" => options } if options.kind_of?(String)
        content = yield

        if options.has_key?("charset")
          require "nkf"
          case options["charset"]
          when /iso-2022-jp/ni
            content = NKF::nkf('-j', content)
            options["language"] = "ja" unless options.has_key?("language")
          when /euc-jp/ni
            content = NKF::nkf('-e', content)
            options["language"] = "ja" unless options.has_key?("language")
          when /shift_jis/ni
            content = NKF::nkf('-s', content)
            options["language"] = "ja" unless options.has_key?("language")
          end
        end

        options["length"] = content.length.to_s
        output = stdoutput
        output.binmode if defined? output.binmode
        output.print header(options)
        output.print content unless "HEAD" == env_table['REQUEST_METHOD']
      end

print(*options)

Print an argument or list of arguments to the default output stream

      cgi = CGI.new
      cgi.print    # default:  cgi.print == $DEFAULT_OUTPUT.print

[Source]

    # File cgi.rb, line 734
      def print(*options)
        stdoutput.print(*options)
      end

[Validate]