#LuaRock "htmlparser" Parse HTML text into a tree of elements with selectors ##License MIT; see ./doc/LICENSE ##Usage Start off with ```lua require("luarocks.loader") local htmlparser = require("htmlparser") ``` Then, parse some html: ```lua local root = htmlparser.parse(htmlstring) ``` The input to parse may be the contents of a complete html document, or any valid html snippet, as long as all tags are correctly opened and closed. Now, find specific elements by selecting: ```lua local elements = root:select(selectorstring) ``` Or in shorthand: ```lua local elements = root(selectorstring) ``` This wil return a Set of elements, all of which are of the same type as the root element, and thus support selecting as well, if ever needed: ```lua for e in pairs(elements) do print(e.name) local subs = e(subselectorstring) for sub in pairs(subs) do print("", sub.name) end end ``` ##Selectors - `"element"` - `"#id"` - `".class"` - `"[attribute]"` - `"[attribute=value]"` - `"[attribute!=value]"` - `"[attribute|=value]"` - `"[attribute*=value]"` - `"[attribute~=value]"` - `"[attribute^=value]"` - `"[attribute$=value]"` - `":not(selector)"` - `"ancestor descendant"` - `"parent > child"` Selectors can be combined; e.g. `".class:not([attribute]) element.class"` ###Limitations - Attribute values in selectors currently cannot contain any spaces, since space is interpreted as a delimiter between the `ancestor` and `descendant`, `parent` and `>`, or `>` and `child` parts of the selector - Likewise, for the `parent > child` relation, the spaces before and after the `>` are mandatory ##Element type All tree elements provide, apart from `:select` and `()`, the following accessors: - `.name` = the element's tagname - `.attributes` = a table with keys and values for the element's attributes; `{}` if none - `.id` = the value of the element's id attribute; `nil` if not present - `.classes` = an array with the classes listed in element's class attribute; `{}` if none - `:getcontent()` = the raw text between the opening and closing tags of the element; `""` if none - `.nodes` = an array with the element's child elements, `{}` if none - `.parent` = the elements that contains this element; `root.parent` is `nil` - `:gettext()` = the raw text of the complete element, starting with `""` - `.level` = how deep the element is in the tree; root level is `0` - `.root` the root element of the tree; `root.root` is `root` - `.deepernodes` = a Set containing all elements in the tree beneath this element, including this element's `.nodes`; `{}` if none - `.deeperelements` = a table with a key for each distinct tagname in `.deepernodes`, containing a Set of all deeper element nodes with that name; `{}` in none - `.deeperattributes` = as `.deeperelements`, but keyed on attribute name - `.deeperids` = as `.deeperelements`, but keyed on id value - `.deeperclasses` = as `.deeperelements`, but keyed on class name