BeautifulSoup fetch help

[ted]

Hi,

I'm using the BeautifulSoup module and having some trouble processing a
file. It's not printing what I'm expecting. In the code below, I'm expecting
cells with only "bgcolor" attributes to be printed, but I'm getting cells
with other attributes and some without any attributes.

Any help appreciated. Thanks,
Ted

import re
from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup

text = open('yahoo.html').read()
soup = BeautifulSoup(text)
tables = soup('table', {'border':re.compile('.+')})

for table in tables:
cells = table.fetch('td', {'bgcolor':re.compile('.+')})
for cell in cells:
print cell
print "================"

[Mike Meyer]

"ted" <te*********************@sbcglobal.net> writes:

I'm using the BeautifulSoup module and having some trouble processing a
file. It's not printing what I'm expecting. In the code below, I'm expecting
cells with only "bgcolor" attributes to be printed, but I'm getting cells
with other attributes and some without any attributes.

BeatifulSoups matching is for any tag with a matching attribute, not
tags that only match that attribute. That's why you're getting tags
with other attributes.

However, you can use a callable as the tag argument to check for what
you want:

def findtagswithly(name, attr):
return (lambda tag: tag.name == name and
len(tag.attrs) == 1 and
tag.attrs[0][0] == attr)

....

cells = table.fetch(findtagswithonly('a', 'bgcolor'))
Or, because I wrote it to check out:

def findtagswithoneattrib(name):
return lambda tag: tag.name == name and len(tag.attrs) == 1

....
cells = table.fetch(findtagswithoneattrib('a', {bgcolor: re.compile('.+)}))

I'm not sure why you're getting tags without attributes. If the above
code does that, post some sample data along with the code.

<mike
--
Mike Meyer <mw*@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.

[ted]

Thanks Mike, works like a charm.

-Ted
"Mike Meyer" <mw*@mired.org> wrote in message
news:86************@bhuda.mired.org...

"ted" <te*********************@sbcglobal.net> writes:

I'm using the BeautifulSoup module and having some trouble processing a
file. It's not printing what I'm expecting. In the code below, I'm
expecting
cells with only "bgcolor" attributes to be printed, but I'm getting cells
with other attributes and some without any attributes.

BeatifulSoups matching is for any tag with a matching attribute, not
tags that only match that attribute. That's why you're getting tags
with other attributes.

However, you can use a callable as the tag argument to check for what
you want:

def findtagswithly(name, attr):
return (lambda tag: tag.name == name and
len(tag.attrs) == 1 and
tag.attrs[0][0] == attr)

...

cells = table.fetch(findtagswithonly('a', 'bgcolor'))
Or, because I wrote it to check out:

def findtagswithoneattrib(name):
return lambda tag: tag.name == name and len(tag.attrs) == 1

...
cells = table.fetch(findtagswithoneattrib('a', {bgcolor:
re.compile('.+)}))

I'm not sure why you're getting tags without attributes. If the above
code does that, post some sample data along with the code.

<mike
--
Mike Meyer <mw*@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more
information.