Using Selenium in Python, webscraping using find elements by xpath, .text

Question

I'm trying to automate a task that I have to do every week using Python and Selenium.

I go to a website and if there is any new files I download them, rename them using the date they came in and who they went to, and then place them in a folder on the shared network server.

The website provides the date in which the file comes in through a clickable link.

Using find elements by xpath, and what I assume are parameters, starts with and contains, I've been able to search through all the links with the date and time.

receivedTime = browser.find_elements_by_xpath('//*[starts-with(@id, 
"anchor") and contains(@id, "_0")]')
for time in receivedTime:
 print(time.text)

The output looks like this for example, "11/2/2018, 8:00:50 AM".

I would like to format that text to say "2018-11-02", how would I go about doing that?

It's my understanding that the variable time is just an object of the Current Xpath and .text is just a property of that object. Is my understanding correct?

Thank you.

ANSWER:

receivedTime = browser.find_elements_by_xpath('//*[starts-with(@id, 
"anchor") and contains(@id, "_0")]')
for time in receivedTime:
 date = str(time.text).split(',')
 dateTime = datetime.strptime(date[0], '%m/%d/%Y').strftime('%Y-%m-%d-')
 print(dateTime)

F Blanchet · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-07 13:55:53Z

2

You should use the package datetime (import datetime)
The time variable is a string so you have to convert it into datetime and change the format like this :

date = str(time.text).split(',')
datetime.datetime.strptime(date[0], '%m/%d/%Y').strftime('%Y-%m-%d')

answered Nov 7, 2018 at 13:55

F Blanchet

1,5283 gold badges23 silver badges35 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Crow Over a year ago

I'm already using the package datetime to compare dates, so this is nice.

Crow Over a year ago

If I understand this correctly. You set the date as a variable to equal the string of time.text then used the command split to split the string before and after the , From there, you use the datetime package and the string to datetime function to convert the string to a datetime. (Best guess) - date[0] is setting the variable date to only what is in front of the comma and the 0 removes what is after it. Also formatting the datetime in the process Then using strftime to convert datetime back to string in the wanted format. Is that correct?

Crow Over a year ago

receivedTime = browser.find_elements_by_xpath('//*[starts-with(@id, "anchor") and contains(@id, "_0")]') for time in receivedTime: date = str(time.text).split(',') dateTime = datetime.strptime(date[0], '%m/%d/%Y').strftime('%Y-%m-%d-') print(dateTime)

F Blanchet Over a year ago

Yes that's correct, I used split() to select just 11/2/2018 because this is what need to be formatted.

Crow Over a year ago

Thank you for answering. I found my answer using the code and logic you provided with some alterations. You can find the code after the edit I made to my question.

Adam Trizuljak · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-07 14:05:00Z

0

You can also use a regular expression to extract the numbers and reformat the date:

import re
text = "11/2/2018, 8:00:50 AM"
date_tuple = re.match("(\d+)\/(\d+)\/(\d+)", text).groups()
file_name = "%d-%02d-%02d" % (int(date_tuple[2]), int(date_tuple[0]), int(date_tuple[1]))

Result: "2018-11-02"

answered Nov 7, 2018 at 14:05

Adam Trizuljak

201 silver badge3 bronze badges

1 Comment

Crow Over a year ago

Never have used the package re before. Would have to put text as whatever the xpath currently is as it changes. Not sure what the d+ are in date_tuple, best guess is a placeholder. Not sure what the %02 in file_name stand for. Everything else I understand on certain level.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Using Selenium in Python, webscraping using find elements by xpath, .text

2 Answers 2

5 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

5 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related