NAME

       WWW::Search::AltaVista - class for searching www.altavista.com

SYNOPSIS

           require WWW::Search;
           $search = new WWW::Search('AltaVista');

DESCRIPTION

       This class is an AltaVista specialization of WWW::Search.  It handles making and interpreting AltaVista
       searches http://www.altavista.com.

       This class exports no public interface; all interaction should be done through WWW::Search objects.

OPTIONS

       The default is "any of these words" (OR of query terms).

       aqa=all+of+these+words
               Add the AND of these words to the query.

       aqp=this+exact+phrase
               Add "this exact phrase" to the query.

       aqo=any+of+these+words
               Add the OR of these words to the query.  This is where the query is placed by default.

       aqn=none+of+these+words
               Add NOT these words to the query.

       aqb=(boolean+AND+expression)+NEAR+entry
               Add a boolean expression to the query.  Operators are AND, OR, AND NOT, and NEAR.  In the browser
               interface, the boolean expression can not be combined with any other query types listed above.
               You should probably build the boolean expression with parentheses and spaces and urlescape it.

       aqs=these+words
               Pages containing "these words" will be ranked highest.

       kgs=[0,1]
               To restrict the search to U.S. websites, set kgs=1.  The default is world-wide, kgs=0.

       kls=[0,1]
               To restrict the search to pages in English and Spanish, set kls=1.  The default is no language
               restrictions, kls=0.

       filetype=[html,pdf]
               To restrict the search to HTML pages only, set filetype=html.  To restrict the search to PDF
               pages only, set filetype=pdf.  The default is no restriction on page type, filetype=.

       rc=dmn&swd=net+org+or.jp
               To restrict the search to pages from certain domains, set rc=dmn and set swd to a list of desired
               toplevel domains.

       rc=url&lh=www.sandcrawler.com/SWB
               To restrict the search to pages from a particular site, set rc=url and set lh to the site name
               and path.  Leave off the http:// from the site.

PUBLIC METHODS

   gui_query
       Call this instead of native_query() if you want to get the same results as your average Joe web surfer.

PRIVATE METHODS

   native_setup_search
       This private method does the heavy lifting after you call native_query() or gui_query().

   parse_tree
       This private method does the hard work of parsing the results out of the HTML.

BUGS

       Not all of the above options have been tested.
       Please report bugs and send feature requests via email to "bug-WWW-Search-AltaVista@rt.cpan.org", or via
       the web interface at <https://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=WWW-Search-AltaVista>.

SEE ALSO

       To make new back-ends, see WWW::Search, or the specialized AltaVista searches described in options.

AUTHOR

       Written by John Heidemann, "johnh@isi.edu"; maintained by Martin Thurn, "mthurn@cpan.org".

LICENSE

       This software is released under the same license as Perl itself.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 1996-1998 University of Southern California.  All rights reserved.

       Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided that the above copyright notice
       and this paragraph are duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, advertising materials,
       and other materials related to such distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed by
       the University of Southern California, Information Sciences Institute.  The name of the University may
       not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written
       permission.

       THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT
       LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.