Getting specific HTML from a webpage with PHP

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How to parse and process HTML with PHP?

I am learning PHP and when I have to extract (parse) some data from a webpage that does not have an available API, I use regular expressions or a function which takes the string that is between two strings.

I would like to know if there is a more "professional", easier way to do this, since regexp are resource consuming and not the easiest thing to write right now for me.

step 1. get permission from the web site owner ... – Jul 17 '12 at 19:57 — , Jul 17 '12 at 19:57
I suggest removing the regex tag, since its not applicable. – Jul 17 '12 at 23:07 — , Jul 17 '12 at 23:07

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

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You should never try to parse XML (html) using regular-expressions, instead get yourself a proper parser library for XML and do it the correct way. I might sound like a harder task but you'll thank yourself in the end.

Parsing could be done using one of the below, or similar resources.

The popular and legendary answer regarding html and regular-expressions, poetry worth reading:

stackoverflow.com - The legendary HTML+RegExp answer!

edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

Community

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answered Jul 17 '12 at 19:53

Filip Roséen - refp

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I just received a down-vote, anyone care to explain why? – Filip Roséen - refp Jul 17 '12 at 21:00

Daniel Li · Answer 2 · 2012-10-15T06:43:25.360

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PHP comes with a default XML parsing library for you to use in this specific case. Use file_get_contents in order to retrieve the HTML page and parse accordingly.

XML: http://php.net/manual/en/book.xml.php

file_get_contents: http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-get-contents.php

edited Oct 15 '12 at 06:43

answered Jul 17 '12 at 19:54

Daniel Li

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Getting specific HTML from a webpage with PHP

2 Answers2