Python Web scraping basics

1. What is Web Scraping?

Web scraping means collecting data from websites automatically using Python.

In simple words:
👉 Python opens a website
👉 Python reads the content
👉 Python collects the required data

Example:

• Get product prices

• Get news headlines

• Get job listings

2. Why Use Web Scraping?

Web scraping is used to:
✔ Collect data automatically
✔ Save time
✔ Avoid manual copy-paste
✔ Build real projects

3. Is Web Scraping Legal?

✔ Public data → usually OK
❌ Private / login data → not allowed
✔ Always check website terms & conditions

4. Tools Used for Web Scraping

We usually use:

• PHP

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  requests → to get webpage   BeautifulSoup → to read HTML

  
   

5. Install Required Libraries

Run this once:

6. Import Required Modules

7. Get Website HTML Content

Example

👉 This prints the webpage HTML.

8. Read HTML Using BeautifulSoup

Example

9. Find Page Title

Example

Output:

10. Find All Paragraphs (<p> tags)

Example

11. Find Specific Element by Tag

Example

12. Find Element by Class Name

Example

13. Get Links from a Website

Example

14. Real-World Example: Scrape Headlines

Example

15. Save Scraped Data to File

Example

16. Handle Errors (Important)

Example

17. Common Beginner Mistakes

❌ Forgetting to install libraries
❌ Scraping private websites
❌ Ignoring website rules
❌ Not using error handling

18. Simple Practice Examples

Example 1: Count Links

Example 2: Extract All Text

Example 3: Check Page Status

19. Where Web Scraping is Used?

✔ Price comparison websites
✔ News aggregation
✔ Job portals
✔ Data research
✔ Market analysis

20. Summary (Python Web Scraping Basics)

✔ Web scraping collects website data
✔ Uses requests + BeautifulSoup
✔ Easy and powerful
✔ Used in real projects
✔ Must follow rules

📘 Perfect for Beginner & Real-World Python eBook

This chapter is ideal for:

• Python learners

• Automation beginners

• Data collection projects

• Real-world Python usage

If you want next, I can write:

• Advanced Web Scraping

• Scraping with Pagination

• Scraping Tables

• Web Scraping Projects

Just tell me 😊