2

I want to pull the text in the a tags, but I don't want the text in the span class that says "new listing". Using xpath, how can I get just the following text:

NEW! CALL OF DUTY: WWII (Microsoft XBOX ONE DISC 2017) WW2 Factory Sealed!

PHP SCRAPER

$document = new DOMDocument( '1.0', 'UTF-8' );
$document->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$internalErrors = libxml_use_internal_errors( true );
$ebayhtml = file_get_contents( $ebayurl );
$document->loadHTML( $ebayhtml );
libxml_use_internal_errors( $internalErrors );

$xpath = new DOMXpath( $document );
$headers = $xpath->query( '//h3[@class="lvtitle"]/a' );
$ebayx = 0;

foreach ( $headers as $title ) {
    if ( $ebayx > 9 ) {
        break;
    } else {
        $header = $title->nodeValue . PHP_EOL;
        $header = strlen($header) > 60 ? substr($header,0,60) . "..." : $header;
        echo '<pre>';
        echo $header;
        echo '</pre>';
        $ebayx++;
                }
            }

HTML CODE BEING SCRAPED

<a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-CALL-OF-DUTY-WWII-Microsoft-XBOX-ONE-DISC-2017-WW2-Factory-Sealed/173060343645?epid=237222746&amp;hash=item284b33475d:g:Xf4AAOSwI8laCc~I" class="vip" title="Click this link to access NEW! CALL OF DUTY: WWII (Microsoft XBOX ONE DISC 2017) WW2 Factory Sealed!"><span class="newly">New listing</span>
        NEW! CALL OF DUTY: WWII (Microsoft XBOX ONE DISC 2017) WW2 Factory Sealed!</a>
Capattax
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  • eBay does not allow scrapeing –  Jan 03 '18 at 00:21
  • As in it's illegal or it won't work? – Capattax Jan 03 '18 at 00:45
  • A breach of Ebays terms of service. –  Jan 03 '18 at 02:53
  • Only if the traffic volumes are disruptive, anything else is only a breach if logged in as a user to buy or sell an item. Just visiting is not an enforceable activity, human or bot, unless computer misuse occurs. As a visitor, you can't breach a contract you never agreed to. – Capattax Jan 03 '18 at 03:03
  • well, you're, of course, welcome to ignore the wishes of others. –  Jan 03 '18 at 03:09

1 Answers1

2

If this XPath,

//h3[@class="lvtitle"]/a

selects the targeted a element, then this XPath,

//h3[@class="lvtitle"]/a/text()

will select only its immediate text node children and so exclude the span child element, as requested.

kjhughes
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