NAME
       getstockquote - Embeddable Perl script for fetching stock and mutual 
       fund quote data from various exchanges.

INSTALLATION
      Installation is straightforward.  Move the getstockquote.tar.gz file to 
      the directory in which you'd like it to live.  Then:
          tar zxvf getstockquote-1_01.tar.gz

      You'll end up with this readme and the getstockquote script.  Make sure
      the script is still executable and you're set.

USAGE
      General sytax:
          /path/to/getstockquote [--fontsize=1..6] [--verbose=yes|no] <quote_source> <ticker1> [ticker2] ...

      Options:
          fontsize - Size of HTML font returned.
              Values:
                 1 = very small
                 2 = kinda small (default)
                 3 = normal size
                 4 = kinda large
                 5 = large
                 6 = damn big

          verbose - Return either a small or large set of data.
              Values:
                 yes = return everything
                 no  = return only symbol, last , high, low (default)

      Script can be called as a server-side exec:
          <!--#exec cmd="/path/to/getstockquote <quote_source> <ticker1> [ticker2] ... " -->

      Script can be called from another Perl script:
          print `/path/to/getstockquote <quote_source> <ticker1>`;
      or
          print system("/path/to/getstockquote <quote_source> <ticker1>");

      Note that using this from a CGI script (as in the examples above) without
      trapping errors, checking for malicious input, etc. is not recommended
      and may represent an enourmous security risk.  Do this AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

DESCRIPTION
      getstockquote.pl uses the Finance::Quote Perl module to fetch stock data
      for one or more ticker symbols and returns an HTML table on STDOUT with
      each ticker symbol followed by that stock's data.  This script was 
      originally designed to be called via a server-side exec with a stock 
      quote source and one or more stock ticker symbols given as command-line 
      arguments, but can be called from a regular CGI script, from PHP, or even
      the command line with a little modification.  It can retrieve data from 
      the following sources:
          NYSE quotes
          Europe quotes
          Fidelity Investments Quotes
          Quotes from T. Rowe Price
          Quotes from Vanguard Group
          Australian quotes from ASX
          Annuities from TIAA-CREF

      For each symbol, it returns the following data:
           Last Price
           Highest trade today
           Lowest trade today
           Last Trade Date and Time (MM/DD/YY HH:MM AM|PM format)
           Percent Change from previous day's close
           Volume
           Bid
           Ask
           Previous Close
           Today's Open
      
      The symbol and data are returned on STDOUT as an HTML table.

      The stock data which get returned can be customized.  The script can 
      either return the full list above (the dafault) or just ticker, price, 
      high, low.  Set this with the --verbose option.

      The fontsize variable sets the size of the font, overriding the default,
      which is 2.  Set it to a value ranging from 1 to 6.  These numbers 
      correspond (oddly enough) to HTML absolute sizes.

      If you call the script with invalid input, it will return HTML which 
      tells you what it expects.  Think of it as online help... :-)

COPYRIGHT
      Copyright (C) 2000, William Rhodes

      This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
      under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the 
      Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your 
      option) any later version.

      The information that you obtain with this script may be copyrighted by 
      Yahoo! Inc., and is governed by their usage license. See
      http://www.yahoo.com/docs/info/gen_disclaimer.html for more information.

      The information that you obtain with this script may be copyrighted by 
      the ASX, and is governed by its usage license.  See 
      http://www3.asx.com.au/Fdis.htm for more information.

      The information that you obtain with this script may be copyrighted by 
      TIAA-CREF, and is governed by its usage license.

      Other copyrights and conditions may apply to data fetched through this 
      script.

AUTHOR
      William Rhodes <wee@27.org>
      <http://www.27.org/getstockquote/>

THANKS
      I would like to express my sincere thanks to the authors of the amazing
      Finance::Quote Perl module:

          Dj Padzensky <djpadz@padz.net>, PadzNet, Inc.
          Linas Vepstas <linas@linas.org>
          Yannick LE NY <y-le-ny@ifrance.com>
          Paul Fenwick <pjf@schools.net.au>
          Brent Neal <brent@phys.lsu.edu>

      This script wouldn't have been nearly as easy without their work.  (And 
      writing this README -- my very first -- wouldn't have been easy without 
      cribbing their README.)  In fact, this script replaces an older, much 
      larger LWP-based script which was a complete hack (and not in the good 
      sense).

      If you find this script useful, please let me know.  If you make any 
      changes, I'd appreciate it if you sent them to me for inclusion in 
      future versions.  Bug reports are also very welcome.

      Some web sites that may interest you:
          The Finance::Quote home page:
              http://finance-quote.sourceforge.net/
          The Finance::YahooQuote home page:
              http://www.padz.net/~djpadz/YahooQuote/
