Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Newsletter Hub
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
timer SALE ENDS IN
0 Days
:
00 Hours
:
00 Minutes
:
00 Seconds
Hands-On Web Scraping with Python
Hands-On Web Scraping with Python

Hands-On Web Scraping with Python: Perform advanced scraping operations using various Python libraries and tools such as Selenium, Regex, and others

Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Chapagain
Arrow right icon
Free Trial
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (11 Ratings)
Paperback Jul 2019 350 pages 1st Edition
eBook
Mex$820.99
Paperback
Mex$1025.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Chapagain
Arrow right icon
Free Trial
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (11 Ratings)
Paperback Jul 2019 350 pages 1st Edition
eBook
Mex$820.99
Paperback
Mex$1025.99
Subscription
Free Trial
eBook
Mex$820.99
Paperback
Mex$1025.99
Subscription
Free Trial

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $15.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Hands-On Web Scraping with Python

Python and the Web – Using urllib and Requests

From the previous chapter, we now have an idea about what web scraping is, what the core development technologies that exist are, and where or how we can plan to find the information we are looking for.

Web scraping requires tools and techniques to be implemented and deployed using scripts or programs. The Python programming language consists of a huge set of libraries that are fit for interacting with the web and for scraping purposes. In this chapter, we will communicate with web resources using Python; we'll also explore and search for the contents to be extracted from the web. 

This chapter will also provide a detailed overview of using Python libraries such as requests and urllib.

In particular, we will learn about the following topics:

  • Setting Python and its required libraries...

Technical requirements

We will be using Python 3.7.0, which has been installed on the Windows operating system. There are plenty of choices for code editors; choose one that is convenient to use and deal with the libraries that are used in this chapter's code examples. We will be using PyCharm (Community Edition https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/download-thanks.html?platform=windows&code=PCC) from JetBrains and Python IDLE (https://www.python.org/downloads/) side by side.

To follow along with this chapter, you will need to install the following applications: 

Accessing the web with Python

Python is a programming language that's used to code various types of applications, from simple scripts to AI algorithms and web frameworks. We will be writing scripts in Python to access the URLs that we are interested in from a data extraction or scraping perspective.

A number of Python libraries exist for HTTP communication and web-related purposes (including http, cookielib, urllib, requests, html, socket, json, xmlrpc, httplib2, and urllib3). We will explore and use a few of them that have been praised by the programmers' community for HTTP access or client-server communication. The urllib and requests Python modules are the ones we are interested in using. These libraries possess various functions that can be used to communicate with the web using Python and deal with HTTP requests and responses.

In order to start a few...

URL handling and operations with urllib and requests

For our primary motive of extracting data from a web page, it's necessary to work with URLs. In the examples we've seen so far, we have noticed some pretty simple URLs being used with Python to communicate with their source or contents. The web scraping process often requires the use of different URLs from various domains that do not exist in the same format or pattern.

Developers might also face many cases where there will be a requirement for URL manipulation (altering, cleaning) to access the resource quickly and conveniently. URL handling and operations are used to set up, alter query parameters, or clean up unnecessary parameters. It also passes the required request headers with the appropriate values and identification of the proper HTTP method for making requests. There will be many cases where you...

Implementing HTTP methods

Generally, web-based interaction or communication between the web page and the user or reader is achieved as follows:

  • The user or reader can access the web page to read or navigate through information that's presented to them
  • The user or reader can also submit certain information to the web page using the HTML form, such as by searching, logging in, user registration, password recovery, and so on

In this section, we will be using the requests Python library to implement common HTTP methods (GET and POST) that execute the HTTP-based communication scenario we listed previously.

GET

A command way to request information is to use safe methods since the resource state is not altered. The GET...

Summary

In this chapter, we learned about using Python libraries to make a request to a web resource and collect the response that was returned. This chapter's main objective was to demonstrate core features that are available through the urllib and requests Python libraries, plus exploring page contents that are found in various formats.

In the next chapter, we will learn and use a few techniques to identify and extract data from web contents.

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon
Download code icon Download Code

Key benefits

  • Learn different scraping techniques using a range of Python libraries such as Scrapy and Beautiful Soup
  • Build scrapers and crawlers to extract relevant information from the web
  • Automate web scraping operations to bridge the accuracy gap and manage complex business needs

Description

Web scraping is an essential technique used in many organizations to gather valuable data from web pages. This book will enable you to delve into web scraping techniques and methodologies. The book will introduce you to the fundamental concepts of web scraping techniques and how they can be applied to multiple sets of web pages. You'll use powerful libraries from the Python ecosystem such as Scrapy, lxml, pyquery, and bs4 to carry out web scraping operations. You will then get up to speed with simple to intermediate scraping operations such as identifying information from web pages and using patterns or attributes to retrieve information. This book adopts a practical approach to web scraping concepts and tools, guiding you through a series of use cases and showing you how to use the best tools and techniques to efficiently scrape web pages. You'll even cover the use of other popular web scraping tools, such as Selenium, Regex, and web-based APIs. By the end of this book, you will have learned how to efficiently scrape the web using different techniques with Python and other popular tools.

Who is this book for?

This book is for Python programmers, data analysts, web scraping newbies, and anyone who wants to learn how to perform web scraping from scratch. If you want to begin your journey in applying web scraping techniques to a range of web pages, then this book is what you need! A working knowledge of the Python programming language is expected.

What you will learn

  • Analyze data and information from web pages
  • Learn how to use browser-based developer tools from the scraping perspective
  • Use XPath and CSS selectors to identify and explore markup elements
  • Learn to handle and manage cookies
  • Explore advanced concepts in handling HTML forms and processing logins
  • Optimize web securities, data storage, and API use to scrape data
  • Use Regex with Python to extract data
  • Deal with complex web entities by using Selenium to find and extract data

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Jul 15, 2019
Length: 350 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789533392
Category :
Languages :
Concepts :
Tools :

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $15.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing

Product Details

Publication date : Jul 15, 2019
Length: 350 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789533392
Category :
Languages :
Concepts :
Tools :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
$12.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 6,500+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
$129.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 6,500+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just Mex$85 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
$179.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 6,500+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just Mex$85 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total Mex$ 3,057.97
Hands-On Web Scraping with Python
Mex$1025.99
Python Machine Learning
Mex$1128.99
Python Web Scraping Cookbook
Mex$902.99
Total Mex$ 3,057.97 Stars icon
Visually different images

Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Web Scraping Fundamentals Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Python and the Web – Using urllib and Requests Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using LXML, XPath, and CSS Selectors Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Scraping Using pyquery – a Python Library Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Web Scraping Using Scrapy and Beautiful Soup Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Secure Web Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Data Extraction Using Web-Based APIs Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Selenium to Scrape the Web Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Regex to Extract Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Next Steps Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Top Reviews
Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
(11 Ratings)
5 star 72.7%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 9.1%
1 star 18.2%
Filter icon Filter
Top Reviews

Filter reviews by




Bishrut Sep 24, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great description
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Frustrated Grad student Dec 12, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great book precise language when it comes to understanding Python. Well suited for the beginner and advanced programmers can benefit as well.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
anishpradhan Sep 24, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Covers most of the important aspects and techniques of web scraping standards. Good book to get you started with data scraping. Also, guides you on how to use the scraped data for data mining, machine learning and data visualizations.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Alok Dhungel Dec 13, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Easy tools used for processed for scraping. Got a chance to learn Selenium from different aspect. But images printed in the book are not very clear.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Anne Aug 20, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Easy to understand and follow through. It's a must have.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is included in a Packt subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

A subscription provides you with full access to view all Packt and licnesed content online, this includes exclusive access to Early Access titles. Depending on the tier chosen you can also earn credits and discounts to use for owning content

How can I cancel my subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

To cancel your subscription with us simply go to the account page - found in the top right of the page or at https://subscription.packtpub.com/my-account/subscription - From here you will see the ‘cancel subscription’ button in the grey box with your subscription information in.

What are credits? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Credits can be earned from reading 40 section of any title within the payment cycle - a month starting from the day of subscription payment. You also earn a Credit every month if you subscribe to our annual or 18 month plans. Credits can be used to buy books DRM free, the same way that you would pay for a book. Your credits can be found in the subscription homepage - subscription.packtpub.com - clicking on ‘the my’ library dropdown and selecting ‘credits’.

What happens if an Early Access Course is cancelled? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Projects are rarely cancelled, but sometimes it's unavoidable. If an Early Access course is cancelled or excessively delayed, you can exchange your purchase for another course. For further details, please contact us here.

Where can I send feedback about an Early Access title? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

If you have any feedback about the product you're reading, or Early Access in general, then please fill out a contact form here and we'll make sure the feedback gets to the right team. 

Can I download the code files for Early Access titles? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We try to ensure that all books in Early Access have code available to use, download, and fork on GitHub. This helps us be more agile in the development of the book, and helps keep the often changing code base of new versions and new technologies as up to date as possible. Unfortunately, however, there will be rare cases when it is not possible for us to have downloadable code samples available until publication.

When we publish the book, the code files will also be available to download from the Packt website.

How accurate is the publication date? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The publication date is as accurate as we can be at any point in the project. Unfortunately, delays can happen. Often those delays are out of our control, such as changes to the technology code base or delays in the tech release. We do our best to give you an accurate estimate of the publication date at any given time, and as more chapters are delivered, the more accurate the delivery date will become.

How will I know when new chapters are ready? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We'll let you know every time there has been an update to a course that you've bought in Early Access. You'll get an email to let you know there has been a new chapter, or a change to a previous chapter. The new chapters are automatically added to your account, so you can also check back there any time you're ready and download or read them online.

I am a Packt subscriber, do I get Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Yes, all Early Access content is fully available through your subscription. You will need to have a paid for or active trial subscription in order to access all titles.

How is Early Access delivered? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is currently only available as a PDF or through our online reader. As we make changes or add new chapters, the files in your Packt account will be updated so you can download them again or view them online immediately.

How do I buy Early Access content? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is a way of us getting our content to you quicker, but the method of buying the Early Access course is still the same. Just find the course you want to buy, go through the check-out steps, and you’ll get a confirmation email from us with information and a link to the relevant Early Access courses.

What is Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Keeping up to date with the latest technology is difficult; new versions, new frameworks, new techniques. This feature gives you a head-start to our content, as it's being created. With Early Access you'll receive each chapter as it's written, and get regular updates throughout the product's development, as well as the final course as soon as it's ready.We created Early Access as a means of giving you the information you need, as soon as it's available. As we go through the process of developing a course, 99% of it can be ready but we can't publish until that last 1% falls in to place. Early Access helps to unlock the potential of our content early, to help you start your learning when you need it most. You not only get access to every chapter as it's delivered, edited, and updated, but you'll also get the finalized, DRM-free product to download in any format you want when it's published. As a member of Packt, you'll also be eligible for our exclusive offers, including a free course every day, and discounts on new and popular titles.

Modal Close icon
Modal Close icon