extract_url.pl is a Perl tool to extract URL links from accurately encoded MIME emails.
I recently tried out the software program extract_url.pl and I can say that it has made my email browsing experience much smoother. It is a Perl script that specializes in extracting URLs from MIME email messages that have been encoded correctly. This tool can be used as either a pre-parser for urlview or a complete replacement for it.
Urlview is a fantastic program in its own right, but it does have some deficiencies. For instance, it is not particularly configurable and cannot handle URLs that have been broken over several lines in format=flowed delsp=yes email messages. Additionally, urlview does not eliminate duplicate URLs. This is where extract_url.pl shines. This Perl script effectively handles all of these issues while also sanitizing URLs so that they are unable to break out of the command shell.
This software program is designed primarily for use with the mutt emailer. The concept is that if you want to access a URL in an email, you can simply pipe the email to a URL extractor (like extract_url.pl) which will enable you to select a URL to view in some third-party program (e.g., Firefox). Alternatively, you can access URLs from within mutt's pager by defining macros and tagging the URLs in the display to indicate which macro to use. For this purpose, tagurl.pl is a useful script to use.
Urlview is a fantastic program in its own right, but it does have some deficiencies. For instance, it is not particularly configurable and cannot handle URLs that have been broken over several lines in format=flowed delsp=yes email messages. Additionally, urlview does not eliminate duplicate URLs. This is where extract_url.pl shines. This Perl script effectively handles all of these issues while also sanitizing URLs so that they are unable to break out of the command shell.
This software program is designed primarily for use with the mutt emailer. The concept is that if you want to access a URL in an email, you can simply pipe the email to a URL extractor (like extract_url.pl) which will enable you to select a URL to view in some third-party program (e.g., Firefox). Alternatively, you can access URLs from within mutt's pager by defining macros and tagging the URLs in the display to indicate which macro to use. For this purpose, tagurl.pl is a useful script to use.
What's New
Version 1.5: N/A