form_data - Linux

Overview

form_data is a lightweight command-line utility designed to parse and extract data from HTML forms. It provides a user-friendly interface for working with form data, making it easy to obtain and manipulate information such as input field values, checkboxes, and drop-down menus.

Syntax

form_data [options] <HTML document>

Options/Flags

  • -f, –field-values: Extract all input field values from the form.
  • -c, –checkboxes: Extract the checked status and values of all checkboxes.
  • -d, –dropdowns: Extract the selected options from all drop-down menus.
  • –no-empty: Ignore empty input fields.
  • -o, –output-file: Write the extracted data to the specified file.

Examples

Extract all input field values:

form_data -f form.html

Extract checked checkboxes and their values:

form_data -c form.html

Extract selected options from drop-down menus and write to a file:

form_data -d form.html --output-file options.txt

Common Issues

Missing arguments: Ensure that you provide the path to the HTML document you want to parse.

Invalid HTML: The HTML document should be well-formed and accessible.

Integration

With grep: Filter the extracted data based on specific criteria.

form_data form.html | grep "username"

With jq: Parse JSON output for advanced data manipulation.

form_data form.html --output-file data.json | jq '.fields'

Related Commands

  • html2text: Extract plaintext from HTML documents.
  • wkhtmltopdf: Convert HTML to PDF.
  • HTML Parser Libraries