How do I replace HTML content with a string in python using BeautifulSoup?

Question

>>> from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
>>> sample = '''\
... <section id="about" class="about-section">
...     <div class="container">
...         <div class="row">
...             <div class="col-lg-12">
...                 <h1>About Section</h1>
... 
...                 <p class = "test-message-one"> Hey </p>
... 
...             </div>
...         </div>
...     </div>
... </section>
... '''
>>> soup = BeautifulSoup(sample)
>>> test = soup.find_all(class_='test-message-one')
>>> print(test)

returns

[<p class="test-message-one"> Hey </p>]

How do I replace the contents 'Hey' with a string saved in python?

I need the HTML to be overwritten with a varibale that I have saved - but most of the documenation I understand in BS4 only shows how to change the name of the class - not the content itself.

Lets say I have this string in python:

>>> replace=('Testing...123')

How do I get it to write back over the HTML to this:

  >>> from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
    >>> sample = '''\
    ... <section id="about" class="about-section">
    ...     <div class="container">
    ...         <div class="row">
    ...             <div class="col-lg-12">
    ...                 <h1>About Section</h1>
    ... 
    ...                 <p class = "test-message-one"> Testing...123 </p>
    ... 
    ...             </div>
    ...         </div>
    ...     </div>
    ... </section>
    ... '''

Avinash Raj · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-25 14:13:50Z

2

You could do like this,

for i in soup.find_all(class_='test-message-one'):
    i.string = var
print soup

where var is the variable which stores the replacement string.

answered Mar 25, 2015 at 14:13

Avinash Raj

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3 Comments

ruben_KAI Over a year ago

This is great! Worked perfectly - But I think it only saved the change in the soup! How do I actually overwrite the HTML file with the new soup so it updates my HTML page?

Avinash Raj Over a year ago

just write the contents of soup variable to another file. A simple google search will give the results.

ruben_KAI Over a year ago

Great! Thanks - your wisdom is much appreciated, I am new to Python and BS4, but they are exciting tools!

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