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CSS vs. XPath for web scraping – SerpApiPodcast

odysee.com

2 points by ilyazub · 3 comments

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ilyazubOP

Why industry tend to use CSS selectors instead of XPath? What is better to select nodes in HTML: CSS selectors or XPath queries?

We discuss these questions in this episode.

  • forgotmypw17

    What's the verdict?

    I've never tried using CSS selectors, but it seems like they would generally be less flexible and able?

    XPath seems to have worked well for me.

    • Minor49er

      Selectors are typically more concise and easier for developers to use if they have front end development experience. XPath has marginal benefits over it, like referencing parents/ancestors, but you can often construct a selector to target the elements you want anyways. But since they are so similar, it really comes down to what you work faster with

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