# Read html then output one line of html if found?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-html-then-output-one-line-of-html-if-found/162699>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 12, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-html-then-output-one-line-of-html-if-found/162699 "2009-03-12T21:38:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-html-then-output-one-line-of-html-if-found/162699/1 "2009-03-12T21:38:14Z")

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Hi  
I have many rspecs showing the duration of several test examples. These  
rspec fils are in an HTML format. I want to be able to grab the  
durations and htmls and write to a textfile. However I can not figure  
out how to pull the 1 line from the html. When I use puts it shows the  
whole html. Will you help me grab one line out of the html?

Here is my snippet.

require “fileutils”

Dir[“C:/Respecs/\*.html”].each do |htmlfile|  
readhtml = File.read(htmlfile)  
if readhtml.include?(“seconds”) == true  
htmlbase = File.basename(htmlfile)  
puts htmlbase #\<–shows full html file not just the line that  
“seconds” is located on.

end

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-html-then-output-one-line-of-html-if-found/162699/2 "2009-03-13T09:20:41Z")

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Le 12 mars à 21:36, Mmcolli00 Mom a écrit :

> Here is my snippet.
> 
> require “fileutils”
> 
> Dir[“C:/Respecs/\*.html”].each do |htmlfile|  
> readhtml = File.read(htmlfile)  
> if readhtml.include?(“seconds”) == true  
> htmlbase = File.basename(htmlfile)  
> puts htmlbase  
> end

For the easy way, try readlines and grep :

> > h = File.readlines(‘f1.txt’)  
> > =\> [“
> > 
> > # hhhhhh
> > \n”, “
> > ## 20 seconds
> > \n”, “
> > 
> > Blah.
> > 
> > \n”,  
> > “\n”]
> 
> > h.grep(/seconds/)  
> > =\> [“
> > 
> > ## 20 seconds
> > \n”]

For a more sophisticated (and time-consuming) approach, try an HTML  
parser like Hpricot :

> > require “hpricot”  
> > =\> true
> 
> > doc = Hpricot(File.read(‘f1.txt’))  
> > =\> #\<Hpricot::Doc {elem
> > 
> > # “hhhhhh”
> > } “\n” {elem 
> > ## “20 seconds”
> > } “\n” {elem 
> > 
> > “Blah.”
> > 
> > } “\n\n”\>
> 
> > doc.children.select { |e| e.inner\_html =~ /seconds/ }  
> > =\> [{elem h2 “20 seconds” h2}]

HTH.

Fred

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**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/read-html-then-output-one-line-of-html-if-found/162699/3 "2009-03-13T14:01:36Z")

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Thanks Fred - this is very helpful!