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powershellhtml-parsinggetelementsbytagnameinvoke-webrequest

Parse HTML to export cell content of specific table

There's a HTML file which is exported to a variable using 'Invoke-WebRequest' from where I'd like to export content from a specific table.

$Result = Invoke-WebRequest 'https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/anaheim-ducks/line-combinations'

Unfortunately by using $result.parsedHTML is not returning any result. Hence I was looking at using regex to find the string. This is where I am looking for your help.

Requested actions:

  • search within HTML file for table with id=LW1
  • within this cell search for <span class=name>Hello World</span>
  • export content 'Hello World'

HTML Structure:

<body ...>
    <div ...>
        <tbody>
            <td id="LW1">
                <a ....>
                    <span class="player-name">Hello World</span>
                </a>
            </td>
        </tbody>
    </div>
</body>

Thanks in advance for any input or help!

Try 1:

$r = Invoke-WebRequest 'https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/anaheim-ducks/line-combinations'
$table = $r.ParsedHtml.getElementsByTagName("table")

Result 1: No output, looks like HTML structure is preventing parsing action.

Try 2:

$r = Invoke-WebRequest 'https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/anaheim-ducks/line-combinations'
$string = ($r.Content | 
    where {$_ -match '^a href.*LW1.*\ title=.*>/span.*'}) -replace '.*>'

Result 2: Regex not matching

Solution

  • Please don't try to parse HTML with regex, that's a terrible idea. You can do this in both, PowerShell Core and Windows PowerShell using Com Object:

    $com = New-Object -ComObject htmlfile
$com.write([System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes(@'
<body>
  <div>
    <tbody>
      <td id="LW1">
        <a><span class="player-name">Hello World</span></a>
      </td>
    </tbody>
  </div>
</body>
'@))

$com.getElementsByClassName('player-name') | ForEach-Object innerHtml
# Outputs: Hello World
$null = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($com)

    Alternatively, you can use XmlDocument:

    $xml = [xml]::new()
$xml.LoadXml(@'
<body>
  <div>
    <tbody>
      <td id="LW1">
        <a><span class="player-name">Hello World</span></a>
      </td>
    </tbody>
  </div>
</body>
'@)
$xml.SelectSingleNode("//span[@class='player-name']").InnerText