Скачать или смотреть How to Pass a String Variable to Jsoup's :containsOwn(text) Selector

Learn how to dynamically use a String variable in Jsoup pseudo selectors like `:containsOwn(text)` to extract data efficiently from HTML tables.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/68817138/ asked by the user 'IronFist' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/16444754/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/68817246/ provided by the user 'seenukarthi' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/916225/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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How to Pass a String Variable to Jsoup's :containsOwn(text) Selector

When working with web scraping in Java using Jsoup, one often encounters the need to extract data from HTML elements based on specific criteria. A common scenario is when you want to obtain a parent row from a table, where the value matches a string stored in a variable. If you're stuck trying to properly use a String variable in a Jsoup pseudo selector like :containsOwn(text), you’re in the right place! Let’s dive into how to tackle this effectively.

Understanding the Problem

In your HTML table, you may want to identify a cell that contains a specific value, and you have that value stored in a variable named s_code. Normally, one might directly pass a string to Jsoup’s selector method, but passing a variable requires a different approach. The key here is to dynamically insert the value of the variable into your Jsoup query.

The Challenge:

To select an element using Jsoup that has the exact text content matching the variable s_code, you might be tempted to write something like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

However, this will not work because it is looking for the literal string "s_code" rather than the value stored in the variable.

The Solution

To correctly use the value in your variable s_code, you can utilize String.format() in Java. This approach allows you to format your selection string by inserting the value of s_code where needed. Here’s how to do it:

Step-by-step Implementation

Connect to the Document: First, ensure you’ve connected properly to your webpage and obtained the HTML document.

Prepare Your Selector: Use String.format() to create the selector string. This allows you to replace the placeholder %s with the actual value of s_code dynamically.

Here’s how you can implement it:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation of the Code

Jsoup.connect(url): This connects to the specified URL and retrieves the HTML document.

String.format("td:containsOwn(%s)", s_code): This formats the selection string, replacing %s with the value of s_code.

column.parent(): Once the correct column is found, you can easily navigate to its parent row, which contains the entire row data.

Conclusion

Using dynamic values in Jsoup selectors is crucial for effective web scraping. By leveraging String.format(), you can easily pass your variable values and make your selectors more flexible and powerful. Now, with this knowledge, you can easily extract the desired data from HTML tables based on variable matches!