---
name: "WWW::Finger"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libwww-finger-perl"
version: "0.105-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/WWW::Finger"
---

# WWW::Finger(3pm)

get useful data from e-mail addresses

## NAME

WWW::Finger - get useful data from e-mail addresses

## SYNOPSIS

```
  use WWW::Finger;
  my $finger = WWW::Finger->new("joe@example.com");
  if (defined $finger)
  {
    print $finger->name . "\n";
  }
```

## DESCRIPTION

This module is *not* an implementation of the finger protocol (RFC 1288). Use Net::Finger for that. Instead it is a set of implementations of *other* methods for getting information from an e-mail address, or e-mail like identifier. This package includes four such implementations, and it's pretty easy to create your own additional implementations:

- •

  WebFinger

- •

  Fingerpoint

- •

  MetaCPAN API for cpan.org addresses

- •

  Unnamed finger protocol described on bitworking.org

### Constructor

- •

  `"new"`

  ```
    $finger = WWW::Finger->new($identifier);
  ```

  Creates a WWW::Finger object for a particular identifier. Will return undef if no implemetation is able to handle the identifier

### Object Methods

Any of these methods can return undef if the appropriate information is not available. The `"name"`, `"mbox"`, `"homepage"`, `"weblog"`, `"image"` and `"key"` methods work in both scalar and list context. Depending on which implementation was used by `"WWW::Finger->new"`, the object may also have additional methods. Consult the documentation of the various implementations for details.

- "name"

  The person's name (or handle/nickname).

- "mbox"

  The person's e-mail address (including "mailto:").

- "homepage"

  The person's personal homepage.

- "weblog"

  The person's blog. (There may be some overlap with `"homepage"`.)

- "image"

  An avatar, photo or other image depicting the person.

- "key"

  The URL of the person's GPG/PGP public key.

- "webid"

  A URI uniquely identifying the person. See \<http://esw.w3.org/topic/WebID\>.

- "endpoint"

  A SPARQL Protocol endpoint which may provide additional data about the person. (See RDF::Query::Client.)

- "graph"

  An RDF::Trine::Model object holding data about the person. (See RDF::Trine.)

## SEE ALSO

Net::Finger.

\<http://code.google.com/p/webfinger/\>.

\<http://buzzword.org.uk/2009/fingerpoint/spec\>.

\<http://www.perlrdf.org/\>.

fingerw.

## AUTHOR

Toby Inkster, \<tobyink@cpan.org\>

## COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2009-2012 by Toby Inkster

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

## DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

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