Scraping HTML with XPath
✒️ By Stéphane Ducasse and Peter Kenny
Scraping HTML with XPath is a concise, hands-on guide for anyone curious about web scraping. Written by Stéphane Ducasse and Peter Kenny, this booklet demystifies the process of extracting data from HTML using XPath queries. It offers practical examples, clear explanations, and is perfect for developers, data enthusiasts, or anyone keen on automating data collection from the web.
Book Description
Scraping HTML with XPath delivers a straightforward introduction to the world of web scraping. If you’ve ever wanted to pull data from websites but felt overwhelmed by complex tools or jargon, this book is your new best friend. In just 38 pages, authors Stéphane Ducasse and Peter Kenny break down how to use XPaththe de facto standard for navigating XML and HTML documentsto extract meaningful information from web pages.
Whether you’re a developer looking to automate repetitive tasks, a data analyst eager to collect web-based datasets, or simply a curious learner, this guide walks you through the essentials. The writing is accessible, peppered with friendly anecdotes and real-world examples. The authors even share their own journeylike hacking Magic card data for fun!making the technical content feel personal and approachable.
This book assumes only basic programming knowledge, making it suitable for beginners but still useful for experienced coders who want a quick refresher or some practical tips. The material is open-licensed (CC BY-SA 3.0), so you’re free to share and adapt it as needed.
What You Will Learn
- How to set up your environment for XPath-based scraping
- The basics of XPath syntax and expressions
- Creating object trees from HTML/XML documents
- Selecting nodes, node sets, and extracting atomic values
- Applying predicates and handling multiple queries efficiently
- Working through real-life scraping examples (like Magic cards!)
- Troubleshooting common issues when scraping messy web pages
- Best practices for sharing and remixing open-licensed scraping projects
The book is ideal for learners who want to get started quickly without wading through hundreds of pages of theory. If you’re interested in alternative approaches or want to compare frameworks, check out The Java Web Scraping Handbook pdf, which explores Java-based techniques in depth. And if you’re storing your scraped data in databases, you might appreciate the practical advice in MySQL 8.0 Tutorial Excerpt (HTML) pdf.
In short: Scraping HTML with XPath is your ticket to mastering the basics of web data extraction. It’s compact, practical, and funperfect for hobbyists, students, or professionals who want results fast.
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