qzane/requests-html

Pythonic HTML Parsing for Humans™

Requests-HTML: HTML Parsing for Humans™

This library intends to make parsing HTML (e.g. scraping the web) as simple and intuitive as possible.

When using this library you automatically get:

• Full JavaScript support!
• CSS Selectors (a.k.a jQuery-style, thanks to PyQuery).
• XPath Selectors, for the faint at heart.
• Mocked user-agent (like a real web browser).
• Automatic following of redirects.
• Connection–pooling and cookie persistence.
• The Requests experience you know and love, with magical parsing abilities.

Tutorial & Usage

Make a GET request to 'python.org', using Requests:

>>> from requests_html import HTMLSession
>>> session = HTMLSession()

>>> r = session.get('https://python.org/')

Grab a list of all links on the page, as–is (anchors excluded):

>>> r.html.links
{'//docs.python.org/3/tutorial/', '/about/apps/', 'https://github.com/python/pythondotorg/issues', '/accounts/login/', '/dev/peps/', '/about/legal/', '//docs.python.org/3/tutorial/introduction.html#lists', '/download/alternatives', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/kihd2DW98YY/python-370a4-is-available-for-testing.html', '/download/other/', '/downloads/windows/', 'https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev', '/doc/av', 'https://devguide.python.org/', '/about/success/#engineering', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonEventsCalendar#Submitting_an_Event', 'https://www.openstack.org', '/about/gettingstarted/', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/AMoBel8b8Mc/python-3.html', '/success-stories/industrial-light-magic-runs-python/', 'http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/introduction.html#using-python-as-a-calculator', '/', 'http://pyfound.blogspot.com/', '/events/python-events/past/', '/downloads/release/python-2714/', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonBooks', 'http://plus.google.com/+Python', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/', 'https://status.python.org/', '/community/workshops/', '/community/lists/', 'http://buildbot.net/', '/community/awards', 'http://twitter.com/ThePSF', 'https://docs.python.org/3/license.html', '/psf/donations/', 'http://wiki.python.org/moin/Languages', '/dev/', '/events/python-user-group/', 'https://wiki.qt.io/PySide', '/community/sigs/', 'https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/PyGObject', 'http://www.ansible.com', 'http://www.saltstack.com', 'http://planetpython.org/', '/events/python-events', '/about/help/', '/events/python-user-group/past/', '/about/success/', '/psf-landing/', '/about/apps', '/about/', 'http://www.wxpython.org/', '/events/python-user-group/665/', 'https://www.python.org/psf/codeofconduct/', '/dev/peps/peps.rss', '/downloads/source/', '/psf/sponsorship/sponsors/', 'http://bottlepy.org', 'http://roundup.sourceforge.net/', 'http://pandas.pydata.org/', 'http://brochure.getpython.info/', 'https://bugs.python.org/', '/community/merchandise/', 'http://tornadoweb.org', '/events/python-user-group/650/', 'http://flask.pocoo.org/', '/downloads/release/python-364/', '/events/python-user-group/660/', '/events/python-user-group/638/', '/psf/', '/doc/', 'http://blog.python.org', '/events/python-events/604/', '/about/success/#government', 'http://python.org/dev/peps/', 'https://docs.python.org', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/zVC80sq9s00/python-364-is-now-available.html', '/users/membership/', '/about/success/#arts', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/Python2orPython3', '/downloads/', '/jobs/', 'http://trac.edgewall.org/', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/wh73_1A-N7Q/python-355rc1-and-python-348rc1-are-now.html', '/privacy/', 'https://pypi.python.org/', 'http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/intro', 'http://www.scipy.org', '/community/forums/', '/about/success/#scientific', '/about/success/#software-development', '/shell/', '/accounts/signup/', 'http://www.facebook.com/pythonlang?fref=ts', '/community/', 'https://kivy.org/', '/about/quotes/', 'http://www.web2py.com/', '/community/logos/', '/community/diversity/', '/events/calendars/', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide', '/success-stories/', '/doc/essays/', '/dev/core-mentorship/', 'http://ipython.org', '/events/', '//docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html', '/about/success/#education', '/blogs/', '/community/irc/', 'http://pycon.blogspot.com/', '//jobs.python.org', 'http://www.pylonsproject.org/', 'http://www.djangoproject.com/', '/downloads/mac-osx/', '/about/success/#business', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/x_c9D0S-4C4/python-370b1-is-now-available-for.html', 'http://wiki.python.org/moin/TkInter', 'https://docs.python.org/faq/', '//docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html#defining-functions'}

Grab a list of all links on the page, in absolute form (anchors excluded):

>>> r.html.absolute_links
{'https://github.com/python/pythondotorg/issues', 'https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/kihd2DW98YY/python-370a4-is-available-for-testing.html', 'https://www.python.org/dev/peps/', 'https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev', 'https://www.python.org/doc/', 'https://www.python.org/', 'https://www.python.org/about/', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-events/past/', 'https://devguide.python.org/', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonEventsCalendar#Submitting_an_Event', 'https://www.openstack.org', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/AMoBel8b8Mc/python-3.html', 'https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/introduction.html#lists', 'http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/introduction.html#using-python-as-a-calculator', 'http://pyfound.blogspot.com/', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonBooks', 'http://plus.google.com/+Python', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-events', 'https://status.python.org/', 'https://www.python.org/about/apps', 'https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-2714/', 'https://www.python.org/psf/donations/', 'http://buildbot.net/', 'http://twitter.com/ThePSF', 'https://docs.python.org/3/license.html', 'http://wiki.python.org/moin/Languages', 'https://docs.python.org/faq/', 'https://jobs.python.org', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/#software-development', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/#education', 'https://www.python.org/community/logos/', 'https://www.python.org/doc/av', 'https://wiki.qt.io/PySide', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-user-group/660/', 'https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/PyGObject', 'http://www.ansible.com', 'http://www.saltstack.com', 'https://www.python.org/dev/peps/peps.rss', 'http://planetpython.org/', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-user-group/past/', 'https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html#defining-functions', 'https://www.python.org/community/diversity/', 'https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html', 'https://www.python.org/community/awards', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-user-group/638/', 'https://www.python.org/about/legal/', 'https://www.python.org/dev/', 'https://www.python.org/download/alternatives', 'https://www.python.org/downloads/', 'https://www.python.org/community/lists/', 'http://www.wxpython.org/', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/#government', 'https://www.python.org/psf/', 'https://www.python.org/psf/codeofconduct/', 'http://bottlepy.org', 'http://roundup.sourceforge.net/', 'http://pandas.pydata.org/', 'http://brochure.getpython.info/', 'https://www.python.org/downloads/source/', 'https://bugs.python.org/', 'https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/', 'https://www.python.org/about/help/', 'http://tornadoweb.org', 'http://flask.pocoo.org/', 'https://www.python.org/users/membership/', 'http://blog.python.org', 'https://www.python.org/privacy/', 'https://www.python.org/about/gettingstarted/', 'http://python.org/dev/peps/', 'https://www.python.org/about/apps/', 'https://docs.python.org', 'https://www.python.org/success-stories/', 'https://www.python.org/community/forums/', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/zVC80sq9s00/python-364-is-now-available.html', 'https://www.python.org/community/merchandise/', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/#arts', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/Python2orPython3', 'http://trac.edgewall.org/', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/wh73_1A-N7Q/python-355rc1-and-python-348rc1-are-now.html', 'https://pypi.python.org/', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-user-group/650/', 'http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/intro', 'https://www.python.org/about/quotes/', 'https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/', 'https://www.python.org/events/calendars/', 'http://www.scipy.org', 'https://www.python.org/community/workshops/', 'https://www.python.org/blogs/', 'https://www.python.org/accounts/signup/', 'https://www.python.org/events/', 'https://kivy.org/', 'http://www.facebook.com/pythonlang?fref=ts', 'http://www.web2py.com/', 'https://www.python.org/psf/sponsorship/sponsors/', 'https://www.python.org/community/', 'https://www.python.org/download/other/', 'https://www.python.org/psf-landing/', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-user-group/665/', 'https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide', 'https://www.python.org/accounts/login/', 'https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-364/', 'https://www.python.org/dev/core-mentorship/', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/#business', 'https://www.python.org/community/sigs/', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-user-group/', 'http://ipython.org', 'https://www.python.org/shell/', 'https://www.python.org/community/irc/', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/#engineering', 'http://www.pylonsproject.org/', 'http://pycon.blogspot.com/', 'https://www.python.org/about/success/#scientific', 'https://www.python.org/doc/essays/', 'http://www.djangoproject.com/', 'https://www.python.org/success-stories/industrial-light-magic-runs-python/', 'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PythonInsider/~3/x_c9D0S-4C4/python-370b1-is-now-available-for.html', 'http://wiki.python.org/moin/TkInter', 'https://www.python.org/jobs/', 'https://www.python.org/events/python-events/604/'}

Select an element with a CSS Selector:

>>> about = r.html.find('#about', first=True)

Grab an element's text contents:

>>> print(about.text)
About
Applications
Quotes
Getting Started
Help
Python Brochure

Introspect an Element's attributes:

>>> about.attrs
{'id': 'about', 'class': ('tier-1', 'element-1'), 'aria-haspopup': 'true'}

Render out an Element's HTML:

>>> about.html
'<li aria-haspopup="true" class="tier-1 element-1 " id="about">\n<a class="" href="/about/" title="">About</a>\n<ul aria-hidden="true" class="subnav menu" role="menu">\n<li class="tier-2 element-1" role="treeitem"><a href="/about/apps/" title="">Applications</a></li>\n<li class="tier-2 element-2" role="treeitem"><a href="/about/quotes/" title="">Quotes</a></li>\n<li class="tier-2 element-3" role="treeitem"><a href="/about/gettingstarted/" title="">Getting Started</a></li>\n<li class="tier-2 element-4" role="treeitem"><a href="/about/help/" title="">Help</a></li>\n<li class="tier-2 element-5" role="treeitem"><a href="http://brochure.getpython.info/" title="">Python Brochure</a></li>\n</ul>\n</li>'

Select Elements within Elements:

>>> about.find('a')
[<Element 'a' href='/about/' title='' class=''>, <Element 'a' href='/about/apps/' title=''>, <Element 'a' href='/about/quotes/' title=''>, <Element 'a' href='/about/gettingstarted/' title=''>, <Element 'a' href='/about/help/' title=''>, <Element 'a' href='http://brochure.getpython.info/' title=''>]

Search for links within an element:

>>> about.absolute_links
{'http://brochure.getpython.info/', 'https://www.python.org/about/gettingstarted/', 'https://www.python.org/about/', 'https://www.python.org/about/quotes/', 'https://www.python.org/about/help/', 'https://www.python.org/about/apps/'}

Search for text on the page:

>>> r.html.search('Python is a {} language')[0]
programming

More complex CSS Selector example (copied from Chrome dev tools):

>>> r = session.get('https://github.com/')
>>> sel = 'body > div.application-main > div.jumbotron.jumbotron-codelines > div > div > div.col-md-7.text-center.text-md-left > p'

>>> print(r.html.find(sel, first=True).text)
GitHub is a development platform inspired by the way you work. From open source to business, you can host and review code, manage projects, and build software alongside millions of other developers.

XPath is also supported:

>>> r.html.xpath('a')
[<Element 'a' class='btn' href='https://help.github.com/articles/supported-browsers'>]

JavaScript Support

Let's grab some text that's rendered by JavaScript:

>>> r = session.get('http://python-requests.org')

>>> r.html.render()

>>> r.html.search('Python 2 will retire in only {months} months!')['months']
'<time>25</time>'

Note, the first time you ever run the render() method, it will download Chromium into your home directory (e.g. ~/.pyppeteer/). This only happens once.

Using without Requests

You can also use this library without Requests:

>>> from requests_html import HTML
>>> doc = """<a href='https://httpbin.org'>"""

>>> html = HTML(html=doc)
>>> html.links
{'https://httpbin.org'}

Installation

$ pipenv install requests-html
✨🍰✨

Only later versions of Python 3 are supported.