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<div class="section" id="introduction">
<h1>Introduction<a class="headerlink" href="#introduction" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p><strong class="program">Universal Feed Parser</strong> is a <strong class="program">Python</strong> module for downloading
and parsing syndicated feeds. It can handle <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr>
0.90, Netscape <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> 0.91, Userland <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> 0.91, <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> 0.92, <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> 0.93, <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> 0.94, <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> 1.0, <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> 2.0, Atom 0.3, Atom 1.0,
and <abbr title="Channel Definition Format">CDF</abbr> feeds. It also parses several
popular extension modules, including Dublin Core and Apple’s <strong class="program">iTunes</strong>
extensions.</p>
<p>To use <strong class="program">Universal Feed Parser</strong>, you will need <strong class="program">Python</strong> 2.4 or
later (Python 3 is supported). <strong class="program">Universal Feed Parser</strong> is not meant
to run standalone; it is a module for you to use as part of a larger
<strong class="program">Python</strong> program.</p>
<p><strong class="program">Universal Feed Parser</strong> is easy to use; the module is self-contained
in a single file, <tt class="file docutils literal"><span class="pre">feedparser.py</span></tt>, and it has one primary public
function, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">parse</span></tt>. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">parse</span></tt> takes a number of arguments, but only one is
required, and it can be a <abbr title="Uniform Resource Locator">URL</abbr>, a local
filename, or a raw string containing feed data in any format.</p>
<div class="section" id="parsing-a-feed-from-a-remote-url">
<h2>Parsing a feed from a remote <abbr title="Uniform Resource Locator">URL</abbr><a class="headerlink" href="#parsing-a-feed-from-a-remote-url" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">feedparser</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">d</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">feedparser</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">parse</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'http://feedparser.org/docs/examples/atom10.xml'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">d</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'feed'</span><span class="p">][</span><span class="s">'title'</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">u'Sample Feed'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The following example assumes you are on Windows, and that you have saved a feed at <tt class="file docutils literal"><span class="pre">c:\incoming\atom10.xml</span></tt>.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last"><strong class="program">Universal Feed Parser</strong> works on any platform that can run
<strong class="program">Python</strong>; use the path syntax appropriate for your platform.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="parsing-a-feed-from-a-local-file">
<h2>Parsing a feed from a local file<a class="headerlink" href="#parsing-a-feed-from-a-local-file" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">feedparser</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">d</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">feedparser</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">parse</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">r'c:\incoming\atom10.xml'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">d</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'feed'</span><span class="p">][</span><span class="s">'title'</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">u'Sample Feed'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p><strong class="program">Universal Feed Parser</strong> can also parse a feed in memory.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="parsing-a-feed-from-a-string">
<h2>Parsing a feed from a string<a class="headerlink" href="#parsing-a-feed-from-a-string" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">feedparser</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rawdata</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s">"""<rss version="2.0"></span>
<span class="go"><channel></span>
<span class="go"><title>Sample Feed</title></span>
<span class="go"></channel></span>
<span class="go"></rss>"""</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">d</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">feedparser</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">parse</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">rawdata</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">d</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'feed'</span><span class="p">][</span><span class="s">'title'</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">u'Sample Feed'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Values are returned as <strong class="program">Python</strong> Unicode strings (except when they’re
not – see <a class="reference internal" href="character-encoding.html#advanced-encoding"><em>Character Encoding Detection</em></a> for all the gory details).</p>
<div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<p class="last"><a class="reference external" href="http://docs.python.org/tut/node5.html#SECTION005130000000000000000">Introduction to Python Unicode strings</a></p>
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<h3><a href="index.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Introduction</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#parsing-a-feed-from-a-remote-url">Parsing a feed from a remote <abbr title="Uniform Resource Locator">URL</abbr></a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#parsing-a-feed-from-a-local-file">Parsing a feed from a local file</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#parsing-a-feed-from-a-string">Parsing a feed from a string</a></li>
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