Most information obtained from WWW (Worldwide Web) sources is presented using the HTML tag language, centered on the visualization of data by human beings. However, the constant growth of the Web makes it impossible to access the data unless this is done mechanically. Many of the Web sources also generate their data registers automatically - with data repositories that are accessed through HTML front-ends.

This document introduces the DEXTL language (Data Extraction Language), which provides the user with a structured view of the data contained in HTML pages obtained beforehand (possibly using NSEQL). This language will be used to extract structured information (as record sets) from HTML pages.

Usually is not necessary to create DEXTL programs manually. The ITPilot ITPilot Generation Environment Guide graphic generation environment allows the DEXTL programs to be created graphically using examples. Nevertheless, this manual provides an exhaustive description of the language for advanced users.

The general procedure for the extraction of data from HTML is displayed in Overview of the extraction process:

  1. The HTML document is used as the input of the scanner (see section Scanners). The scanner uses tagsets (see section Tagsets) to format the HTML document into a new document that contains format tags instead of HTML tags.

  2. The formatted document that the scanner outputs is used as the input of the DEXTL interpreter that applies a DEXTL program to the document. The DEXTL program specifies the format tags structure to be extracted from the document; all the matches found by the interpreter will be returned as data records at the end of the extraction process.

The following chapters explain each of the elements present in Overview of the extraction process: scanners, tagsets, format tags and DEXTL programs.

Overview of the extraction process

Overview of the extraction process