CGI or php for parsing data from url and inserting into database

Question

I need to create a script which will parse some data from a url and then insert it into a database. I was wondering whether a perl cgi script or a php script is more suited for this purpose. I would have to run this script every ten minutes or so.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 23 '12 at 01:54

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Anything that gets the job done is "suited" to the purpose. Personally I'd go with PHP but that's just because I know PHP and not Perl. Ultimately it's up to you - if you can do it in Perl, do so. If you prefer PHP, do it in PHP.

answered Sep 23 '12 at 01:54

Niet the Dark Absol

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:27

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Either PHP or Perl will do the job just fine. I'd send you in the direction of PHP just because it's easier to use out of the box and has a lot more examples geared toward people just getting started.

Here is an example answer to this question

edited May 23 '17 at 12:27

Community

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answered Sep 23 '12 at 01:55

tdlm

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It is possible to run a php script every 10 mintes or so right? – user1667307 Sep 23 '12 at 02:01
i believe you would need to set up a cron job for that – kennypu Sep 23 '12 at 02:08
Yes -- either way (PHP or Perl), you would need access to a cron job or something similar for something like this to work. – tdlm Sep 23 '12 at 02:10

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 06 '22 at 12:39

10 years too late, but might help someone else. When parsing query string with PHP (parse_str), unlike CGI, PHP will not allow duplicated keys in resulting array, e.g. this query:

parse_str('a=1&b=2&b=3&c=4')

will result in this array

//'a'=>1, 'b'=>3, 'c'=>4

no matter the query is obviously polluted (HTTP parameter pollution (HPP)). PHP/Apache will parse only the last occurrence of parsed string variable (other backend servers will do differently). The same is with parsing a JSON string into array (with json_decode (as object or array, the same)). So in PHP, for parsing even polluted queries, and preventing them from further loops, use string parsing, before converting to array with parse_str, like:

$control_arr = array();
$pairs = explode('&', $query); 
for ($i = 0; $i < sizeof($pairs); $i++){

    $instances = explode('=', $pairs[$i]);
    $key = $instances[0];

    if (!in_array($key, $control_arr)){

        $control_arr[] = $key;

    } else {
    
        //HTTP parameter pollution (parameters are repeating)

    }

}
//if cursor is here, continue with parse_str, query string isn't polluted

CGI or php for parsing data from url and inserting into database

3 Answers3