strip text from HTML

[stingrae]

Does anybody here have an algorithm to strip the text from an HTML page?

for instance, i have a page in html with lots of data on it, but when i open it with a text stream reader, i get all the "color=, border =' etc.... crap as well as the text that i want.

if anybody has a function lying around that does this, it would be greatly appreciated.

[persianboy]

this is what i could think of >>

pass your html to this funcion, it removes whatevers between < and >

    Public Function GetTextFromHtml(ByVal input As String) As String
        Dim substring() As String = input.Split("<")
        Dim output As String
        Dim enm As IEnumerator = substring.GetEnumerator
        While enm.MoveNext
            Dim counter As Integer
            Dim ishtml As Boolean
            For counter = 1 To enm.Current.Length()
                If enm.Current.Chars(counter - 1) = ">" Then
                    output &= enm.Current.Substring(counter) & vbCrLf
                    ishtml = True
                    Exit For
                End If
            Next
            If Not ishtml Then output &= enm.Current & vbCrLf
        End While
        Return output
    End Function

[persianboy]

but you have to think of something for the double quotes in the html code, since you have to pass a string to the function


is this what you want? if not plz let me know

[Lunatic3]

http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/042501-1.shtml

However you will still face problems on complicated pages.

[stingrae]

hmmmm... thanks for the suggestions guys, but unfortunaly they're not really returning readable output.

here's the page that i'm trying to get into a text format:

http://www.ssp.co.uk/coupons/coupon.htm

any other ideas?

[Stick]

I think what you want is just the text from the web page right.
Well let me know if this is what you want.

[stingrae]

Hey Stick,

thanks for that. seems to work well. will test more and let you no.

cheers.

[stingrae]

hhmmmm..... it works well for single html pages, but the problem comes when you introduce frames. it doesn't seem to always pick up the main frame.