Python Standard Library

The formatter Module

The formatter module provides formatter classes that can be used together with the htmllib module.

This module provides two class families, formatters and writers. Formatters convert a stream of tags and data strings from the HTML parser into an event stream suitable for an output device, and writers render that event stream on an output device. Example 5-13 demonstrates.

In most cases, you can use the AbstractFormatter class to do the formatting. It calls methods on the writer object, representing different kinds of formatting events. The AbstractWriter class simply prints a message for each method call.

Example 5-13. Using the formatter Module to Convert HTML to an Event Stream

File: formatter-example-1.py

import formatter
import htmllib

w = formatter.AbstractWriter()
f = formatter.AbstractFormatter(w)

file = open("samples/sample.htm")

p = htmllib.HTMLParser(f)
p.feed(file.read())
p.close()

file.close()

send_paragraph(1)
new_font(('h1', 0, 1, 0))
send_flowing_data('A Chapter.')
send_line_break()
send_paragraph(1)
new_font(None)
send_flowing_data('Some text. Some more text. Some')
send_flowing_data(' ')
new_font((None, 1, None, None))
send_flowing_data('emphasized')
new_font(None)
send_flowing_data(' text. A')
send_flowing_data(' link')
send_flowing_data('[1]')
send_flowing_data('.'

In addition to the AbstractWriter class, the formatter module provides a NullWriter class, which ignores all events passed to it, and a DumbWriter class that converts the ...