[R] [Possible SPAM] Reading selected lines in an .html file

[Nutter, Benjamin]

I've tried to tackle a similar question at the request of a coworker.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to read in HTML code because it lacks
character that can consistently be used as a delimiter.  The only
guideline I can offer is that any text you're interested in is going to
be between a ">" and a "<".  So the goal is to eliminate anything
between < and >.

What's more, if you really want to read in HTML code, you'll need a good
grasp on HTML itself, and some familiarity with how the code you're
reading in is structured.  For instance, I'm attaching code that I wrote
to read in HTML tables that were generated by other functions commonly
used in my work place.  But my code assumes that the tables are written
by row (using the <tr> tag.

Essentially, after studying the code I was going to read in, I hand
picked the markers that I could use to isolate the text I wanted.  I
then proceeded to play a game of Simon Says to break down the code to
smaller and smaller pieces until I got what I wanted.  

Unless you're going to be doing this a lot, I wouldn't recommend taking
the time to try and write a function like this.  In most cases it's
probably faster just to copy the data by hand.  But if you are
determined to make it work, I hope the ideas help.

Benjamin

-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
On Behalf Of vittorio
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2008 3:50 PM
To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject: [Possible SPAM] [R] Reading selected lines in an .html file

Dear friend, 

In an R program running permanently on a server I would like to read
hour by 
hour the temperature in *C and the humidity from a  site like this
(actually, 
from many of such sites):

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/16239.html

How can I read the content of the site and select the info I need?

Ciao
Vittorio

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