Subj : Re: not sure who to ask... sorting data from a web page...
To   : comp.programming
From : Richard Heathfield
Date : Sat Jul 30 2005 04:12 am

Eric wrote:

> Hi there, I'm wondering if anyone might now how I can sort through
> data from a web site.
> 
> Here's what I mean:  I go to a page like this,
> http://biz.yahoo.com/research/earncal/20050727.html
> 
> and make lists in a text file that look like this,
> """"""""
> July 27/05
> am:
> zbra ycc xel wec wlp wlm vcg vitx uco umc tup trps twti tmo mos faf ba
[...]
> 
> time not:
> wgbc wri wlt vitr upl ttmi toc eml skx rai rjet rgen o rndc pnw ptnr
[...]
> 
> pm:
> zmh xl wxs wits wsh wpi wsii vas vrtx vrlk vtr vvc vari var uhs xprsa
[...]
> 
> I do this by hand.  As you can see there are 3 main categories,
> 1)before market open, 2) time not supplied and, 3) after market close
> and some specific times of earnings release.
> 
> Can any one tell me how to create these lists without typing them all
> out by hand?

Get your browser to show you the page source, and you'll find that your data 
are contained in a simple HTML table. All you have to do is cut code to 
parse the HTML and read the data straight from the table. A fairly simple 
programming task, especially if you cheat and download the actual HTML page 
manually (but it's not really a big deal even to automate that, nowadays).


-- 
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
mail: rjh at above domain

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