Python simple string formatting error

Question

This is my script which is supposed to parse a list of domains (each seperated by returns) in a .txt file, separate them into individual domain names, send a request to a whois site with the domain name, check the response to see if it is available, and if it is, write it to a new file. so i get a list of only available names.

The problem? It's pretty simple i just dont know the language well enough, I dont know how to get the domain name in a string format so that the request to the whois site is like this :

http://whois.domaintools.com/google.com

Apparently the %s thing is not working.

Code:

#!/usr/bin/python
import urllib2, urllib
print "Domain Name Availability Scanner."
print "Enter the Location of the txt file containing your list of domains:"
path = raw_input("-->")

wordfile = open(path, "r")
words = wordfile.read().split("n")
words = map(lambda x: x.rstrip(), words)
wordfile.close()

for word in words:
    req = urllib2.Request("http://whois.domaintools.com/%s") % (word)
    source = urllib2.urlopen(req).read()
    if "This domain name is not registered" in source:
    f = open("success.txt", "a")
    f.write("%s\n") % (word)
    f.close()
  break

error in terminal:

python domain.py
Domain Name Availability Scanner.
Enter the Location of the txt file containing your list of domains:
-->a.txt
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "domain.py", line 13, in <module>
    req = urllib2.Request("http://whois.domaintools.com/%s") % (word)
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for %: 'instance' and 'str'

Did you try reading the error message? Do you understand what it means? — Karl Knechtel
– Karl Knechtel, Commented Jun 18, 2012 at 17:29

jsalonen · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-18 16:25:13Z

5

Fix the parentheses:

req = urllib2.Request("http://whois.domaintools.com/%s" % (word))

As well as:

f.write("%s\n" % word)

:)

answered Jun 18, 2012 at 16:25

jsalonen

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Comments

betabandido · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-18 16:25:22Z

2

You need to use:

req = urllib2.Request("http://whois.domaintools.com/%s" % word)
# ...
f.write("%s\n" % word)

answered Jun 18, 2012 at 16:25

betabandido

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4 Comments

betabandido Over a year ago

@SteveTjoa there was only one way to fix it :)

tabchas Over a year ago

Wow yea I was typing mine and I hit submit and there were two already

jsalonen Over a year ago

Same here :DDDD I'll just +1 all :)

John Johnson Over a year ago

thanks guys, this fixed the error! i am learning python syntax.

tabchas · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-18 16:26:45Z

2

Use:

f.write("%s\n" % word)

Check out this link, it should explain how this formatting works: http://docs.python.org/release/2.5.2/lib/typesseq-strings.html

answered Jun 18, 2012 at 16:26

tabchas

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