screen scraping ebay

[paulious]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to screen scrape data from completed listings of ebay. I have had some experiance with Regex but my main problem is that i am searching through each completed item using r="x" x being the index number of each item. once at each r="x" i need to extract the

 

final bid value(prices bidsold g-b">£1.00),

 

the item description(r="5">Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 UPDATE PS2 *German League* </a>),

 

item URL(<a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pro-Evolution-Soccer-2009-UPDATE-PS2-German-League_W0QQitemZ160371788015QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_VideoGames_VideoGameAccessories_VideoGameAccessories_JN?hash=item2556e748ef")

 

The snippet of code below might help with my explanation:

 

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pro-Evolution-Soccer-2009-UPDATE-PS2-German-League_W0QQitemZ160371788015QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_VideoGames_VideoGameAccessories_VideoGameAccessories_JN?hash=item2556e748ef" class="v4lnk" _sp="p3286.c0.m14;" r="5">Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 UPDATE PS2 *German League* </a></div><div class="sttl dynamic"><span>NEU mit TOP-aktuellen SOMMERTRANSFER<wbr>S 2009/10 </span></div><div></div><div class="anchors"><div class="g-nav group"><a href="http://shop.ebay.co.uk/sis.html?_kw=Pro+Evolution+Soccer+2009+UPDATE+PS2+*German+League*+&ssPageName=SRCH:CMPL:VS&_fis=2&_id=160371788015&_isid=3&_sibeleafcat=11319">View similar active items</a><span class="vbar g-nav"> | </span><a href="http://cgi5.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SellLikeItem&item=160371788015&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:LILTX">Sell one like this</a><div class="mi-l"><div></div></div></div></div></td><td class="trs"></td><td class="pay"></td><td class="bids"><img src="i_files/bin_15x54.gif" alt="Buy It Now" title="Buy It Now"><span class="sold">Sold</span></td><td class="prices bidsold g-b">£1.00</td><td class="time time rt">01-Nov 07:26</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="hr"></div><a name="item3356d00b36"> </a><table class="lview nol"><tbody><tr><td class="pic lt"><a href="javascript:;" onclick="return toVI(event);" class="pic" _sp="p3286.c0.m14;" r="6">

 

From the code above the URL relating to the item described after r="5" is actually just before it. I wish to be able to extract that and store it in my SQL database (i know how to do this, it's just the Regex i can't solve)

 

Sorry this does seem like a big ask but i have never really got my head around Regex patterns.

 

Thanks

[JonnoTheDev]

Download the tool RegexBuddy. It will make life a lot easier.

http://www.regexbuddy.com/

[nadeemshafi9]

Download the tool RegexBuddy. It will make life a lot easier.

http://www.regexbuddy.com/

 

is the free version ok to use ?

[JonnoTheDev]

is the free version ok to use ?

There is no free version I am aware of. Single user licence is only $30

[nadeemshafi9]

is the free version ok to use ?

There is no free version I am aware of. Single user licence is only $30

 

i downloaded this regexbuddy once with a owl as  the logo and it was prety hard to use, and most features were blocked off, but i can definatly see the advantages, il probs buy it at some point put it on my laptop and then my regex will be better than the companies lol.