README

Advance PHP Scraper is a powerful, modular, and extensible PHP library designed for web scraping. It simplifies extracting data from websites, such as links, images, meta tags, structured data, and more, while offering advanced features like plugin support, rate limiting, and asynchronous scraping. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer, this library provides a flexible and user-friendly interface to scrape web content efficiently.

This document is crafted to be beginner-friendly, with detailed explanations and examples to help you get started, even if you're new to PHP or web scraping. By the end, you'll know how to install, use, and extend the library with ease.

What is Advance PHP Scraper?
- Why Use This Library?
- Who Should Use It?
Key Features
Getting Started
Basic Usage: Your First Scrape
Intermediate Usage: Leveling Up
Advanced Usage: Power User Mode
Plugins: Supercharging Your Scraper
Configuration: Customizing Your Scraper
Testing: Ensuring Everything Works
- Running Tests
- Writing Your Own Tests
Troubleshooting: Solving Common Problems
Contributing: Joining the Community
License: Understanding Usage Rights
Resources: Further Learning

What is Advance PHP Scraper?

Advance PHP Scraper is a PHP library that helps you extract data from websites, like a super-smart librarian who can quickly find and summarize books for you. Web scraping is like copying information from a webpage (e.g., product names, prices, or blog titles) using code instead of manually copying and pasting. This library makes it easy to navigate websites, grab specific data, and even handle tricky tasks like scraping JavaScript-heavy pages or processing thousands of URLs at once.

Imagine you’re at a giant library (the internet), and you need to collect all book titles from a specific shelf (a website). Doing this by hand would take forever, but Advance PHP Scraper is like a magical robot that does it for you in seconds. It’s designed to be:

Easy: Simple commands to get data, even if you’re new to coding.
Powerful: Handles complex tasks like async scraping or cloud deployment.
Flexible: Add your own features using plugins, like customizing a Lego set.

Why Use This Library?

There are other scraping tools out there, but here’s why Advance PHP Scraper is special:

Beginner-Friendly: The code is straightforward, and this guide explains everything like you’re five.
Modular: Only use the features you need, keeping your project lightweight.
Robust: Built-in error handling, logging, and rate limiting prevent crashes or bans.
Extensible: Plugins let you add custom features without touching the core code.
Free and Open-Source: Use it, modify it, share it—under the MIT License.

Who Should Use It?

New Coders: If you’re learning PHP and want to try web scraping, this is a great starting point.
Hobbyists: Want to scrape your favorite blog’s headlines or collect product prices? This is for you.
Professionals: Need to scrape thousands of pages for data analysis? The library’s advanced features have you covered.
Educators: Teaching PHP or web scraping? Use this library for hands-on examples.

Key Features

Let’s explore what Advance PHP Scraper can do. Think of these features as tools in a toolbox, each designed for a specific job.

Core Scraping Features

These are the basic tools you’ll use most often:

Extract Common Data:
- Links: Grab all <a> tags (e.g., URLs and their text).
- Images: Collect <img> tags (e.g., source URLs and alt text).
- Meta Tags: Extract <meta> tags (e.g., description, Open Graph data).
- Headings: Get <h1> to <h6> tags for page structure.
- Paragraphs: Pull <p> tag content for text.
- Structured Data: Extract JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa (e.g., schema.org data).
Sitemap Parsing: Read XML sitemaps to discover all pages on a site.
RSS Feed Parsing: Extract news or blog feeds.
Asset Parsing: Process CSV, JSON, or XML files linked on pages.
Custom Selectors: Use CSS selectors to target specific elements (e.g., div.content).

Advanced Features

These tools are for power users:

Rate Limiting: Control how fast you scrape to avoid server bans (like driving at the speed limit).
Queue System: Scrape multiple URLs in batches, like a to-do list for your scraper.
API Integration: Combine scraped data with external APIs (e.g., fetch product details).
CLI Interface: Run scraping tasks from the command line, perfect for quick jobs.
Multilingual Support: Handle non-English text with proper encoding (e.g., Spanish, Chinese).
Error Handling: Logs errors and checks HTTP status codes to keep scraping smooth.

Plugin System

Plugins are like optional upgrades for your toolbox:

Headless Browsing: Scrape JavaScript-rendered pages (e.g., React apps).
Async Scraping: Scrape multiple pages at once for speed.
NLP Analysis: Extract keywords and entities from text.
PDF Parsing: Read text from linked PDFs.
Caching: Save scraped data to reduce server load.
Cloud Deployment: Run scraping tasks on AWS Lambda.
Custom Plugins: Add your own features (e.g., custom logging).

Getting Started

Let’s set up the library and run your first scrape. This section is like a cooking recipe: follow each step, and you’ll have a working scraper in no time.

Prerequisites

Before you start, you need:

PHP 7.4 or Higher: The library works with PHP 7.4, 8.0, or 8.1. Check your version:
```
php -v
```
If it’s lower, download a newer version from php.net.

Composer: This is a tool to manage PHP dependencies (like a grocery delivery service for code). Install it:

php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"
php composer-setup.php
php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"
mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

A Text Editor: Use VS Code, Sublime Text, or any editor to write PHP code.
Internet Connection: Needed to download the library and scrape websites.

Installation

Here’s how to install the library:

Create a Project Folder: Make a new directory for your scraping project:
```
mkdir my-scraper
cd my-scraper
```
Install Advance PHP Scraper: Run this Composer command to download the library and its dependencies:
```
composer require rajpurohithitesh/advance-phpscraper
```
This creates a vendor/ folder with the library and dependencies like symfony/browser-kit and guzzlehttp/guzzle.
Check the Files: After installation, you’ll see:
- vendor/: Contains the library and dependencies.
- composer.json: Lists the project’s dependencies.
- composer.lock: Locks dependency versions.

Verifying Installation

Let’s make sure everything works. Create a file named test.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
echo "Hooray! Advance PHP Scraper is ready to roll!\n";

Run it:

php test.php

Expected Output:

Hooray! Advance PHP Scraper is ready to roll!

If you see this, you’re good to go! If you get an error, check the Troubleshooting section.

Basic Usage: Your First Scrape

Now, let’s scrape some real data! Think of this as your first adventure with the library, like learning to ride a bike with training wheels.

Scraping a Simple Website

Let’s scrape the title of a webpage. Create a file named scrape_title.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php'; // Load the library
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

// Create a new scraper instance
$scraper = new Scraper();

// Go to the website
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Get the page title
$title = $scraper->title();

// Print the title
echo "The page title is: $title\n";

Run it:

php scrape_title.php

Expected Output:

The page title is: Example Domain

Line-by-Line Explanation:

require 'vendor/autoload.php': This line is like opening your toolbox, loading all the library’s tools.
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper: This tells PHP you want to use the Scraper class, like picking a specific tool from the toolbox.
$scraper = new Scraper(): Creates a new scraper, like turning on your robot assistant.
$scraper->go('https://example.com'): Tells the scraper to visit the website, like sending your robot to a library shelf.
$title = $scraper->title(): Asks the scraper to find the <title> tag, like asking for the book’s title.
echo "The page title is: $title\n": Prints the result, like showing off the book you found.

What’s Happening Behind the Scenes?

The library sends an HTTP request to https://example.com using Symfony BrowserKit.
It loads the HTML into a Crawler object (like a super-smart librarian who can read the page).
The title() method searches for the <title> tag and returns its text.

Extracting Links

Let’s grab all the links on a page. Create scrape_links.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Get all links
$links = $scraper->links();

// Loop through links and print them
echo "Found " . count($links) . " links:\n";
foreach ($links as $link) {
    echo "- URL: {$link['href']}\n";
    echo "  Text: {$link['text']}\n";
    echo "  Nofollow: " . ($link['is_nofollow'] ? 'Yes' : 'No') . "\n";
}

Run it:

php scrape_links.php

Expected Output:

Found 1 links:
- URL: https://www.iana.org/domains/example
  Text: More information...
  Nofollow: No

Line-by-Line Explanation:

$links = $scraper->links(): Finds all <a> tags and returns an array of link details (like a list of book references).
foreach ($links as $link): Loops through each link, like flipping through a list.
$link['href']: The URL (e.g., https://www.iana.org/domains/example).
$link['text']: The clickable text (e.g., “More information...”).
$link['is_nofollow']: Checks if the link has a rel="nofollow" attribute (used by search engines).

Why This is Cool:

You get detailed info about each link, like whether it’s nofollow (important for SEO).
The library handles relative URLs (e.g., /page becomes https://example.com/page).

Extracting Images

Now, let’s grab images. Create scrape_images.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Get all images
$images = $scraper->images();

// Print images
echo "Found " . count($images) . " images:\n";
foreach ($images as $image) {
    echo "- Source: {$image['src']}\n";
    echo "  Alt Text: {$image['alt']}\n";
    echo "  Dimensions: {$image['width']}x{$image['height']}\n";
}

Run it:

php scrape_images.php

Expected Output:

Found 0 images:

Explanation:

$images = $scraper->images(): Finds all <img> tags.
Since https://example.com has no images, the output is empty.

Try a different site (e.g., https://www.wikipedia.org) for images:

$scraper->go('https://www.wikipedia.org');

You might see:

Found 2 images:
- Source: /static/images/logo.png
  Alt Text: Wikipedia Logo
  Dimensions: 200x200
- Source: /static/images/search.png
  Alt Text: Search Icon
  Dimensions: 24x24

Why This is Useful:

You can filter images by size or attributes (e.g., $scraper->images()->filterByMinDimensions(100, 100)).
The library handles lazy-loaded images (e.g., data-src attributes).

Extracting Meta Tags

Meta tags contain SEO and social media data. Create scrape_meta.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Get meta tags
$meta = $scraper->meta();

// Print meta tags
echo "Meta Tags:\n";
foreach ($meta as $type => $tags) {
    echo "$type:\n";
    foreach ($tags as $name => $content) {
        echo "  - $name: $content\n";
    }
}

Run it:

php scrape_meta.php

Expected Output:

Meta Tags:
standard:
  - description: This domain is for use in illustrative examples in documents...
og:
  - og:title: Example Domain
  - og:description: This domain is for use...

Explanation:

$meta = $scraper->meta(): Returns a categorized array of meta tags (standard, og, twitter, charset, viewport).
$type: Groups like standard (regular meta tags) or og (Open Graph for social media).
Useful for SEO analysis or social media previews.

Using the Command-Line Interface (CLI)

The CLI lets you scrape without writing PHP code. Run:

php bin/scraper scrape https://example.com --extract=links,meta,content

Expected Output (JSON):

{
  "links": [
    {
      "href": "https://www.iana.org/domains/example",
      "text": "More information...",
      "rel": null,
      "protocol": "https",
      "is_nofollow": false
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "standard": {
      "description": "This domain is for use in illustrative examples..."
    },
    "og": {
      "og:title": "Example Domain"
    }
  },
  "content": {
    "headings": [
      {
        "tag": "h1",
        "text": "Example Domain",
        "level": 1
      }
    ],
    "paragraphs": [
      "This domain is for use in illustrative examples..."
    ],
    "keywords": ["example", "domain"]
  }
}

Explanation:

scrape: The CLI command to scrape a URL.
--extract=links,meta,content: Specifies what to extract (options: links, images, meta, content, sitemap, rss).
The JSON output is easy to parse for scripts or tools.
Great for quick tasks or automation (e.g., in a cron job).

Intermediate Usage: Leveling Up

Now that you’ve mastered the basics, let’s explore more features to make your scraper smarter.

Scraping Sitemaps

Sitemaps list all pages on a website, like a table of contents for a book. Create scrape_sitemap.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Get sitemap URLs
$sitemap = $scraper->sitemap();

echo "Sitemap URLs:\n";
foreach ($sitemap as $url) {
    echo "- {$url['loc']} (Last Modified: {$url['lastmod']})\n";
}

Run it:

php scrape_sitemap.php

Expected Output:

Sitemap URLs:
- (none found)

Explanation:

$scraper->sitemap(): Finds the sitemap URL from robots.txt and parses it.

Since https://example.com may not have a sitemap, try a site like https://www.wikipedia.org:

$scraper->go('https://www.wikipedia.org');

Output might be:

Sitemap URLs:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/sitemap.xml (Last Modified: 2025-05-01)

Why This is Awesome:

Sitemaps help you discover all pages on a site, perfect for large-scale scraping.
Includes metadata like lastmod (last modified date) and priority.

Scraping RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are like news tickers for websites. Create scrape_rss.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Get RSS feeds
$feeds = $scraper->rssFeed();

echo "RSS Feeds:\n";
foreach ($feeds as $feed) {
    echo "- Feed: {$feed['title']} ({$feed['url']})\n";
    foreach ($feed['items'] as $item) {
        echo "  - {$item['title']} ({$item['pubDate']})\n";
    }
}

Run it:

php scrape_rss.php

Expected Output:

RSS Feeds:
- (none found)

Explanation:

$scraper->rssFeed(): Finds <link type="application/rss+xml"> tags and parses RSS feeds.

Try a news site like https://www.bbc.com for feeds:

$scraper->go('https://www.bbc.com');

Output might be:

RSS Feeds:
- Feed: BBC News (https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml)
  - Breaking News (2025-05-19 10:00:00)
  - World Update (2025-05-19 09:00:00)

Why This is Handy:

Great for scraping news, blogs, or podcasts.
Returns structured data (title, link, description, date).

Parsing Assets (CSV, JSON, XML)

You can parse files linked on pages. Create parse_asset.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Parse a CSV file (assuming a link exists)
$content = $scraper->fetchAsset('https://example.com/data.csv');
$data = $scraper->parseCsv($content, true);

echo "CSV Data:\n";
foreach ($data as $row) {
    echo "- {$row['name']}: {$row['value']}\n";
}

Explanation:

fetchAsset($url): Downloads the file content.
parseCsv($content, true): Parses CSV, using the first row as headers.
For JSON or XML, use parseJson() or parseXml().

Why This is Useful:

Extract data from linked files (e.g., product lists in CSV).
Handles multiple formats for flexibility.

Checking HTTP Status Codes

Ensure a page loaded correctly with getStatusCode():

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

$status = $scraper->getStatusCode();
if ($status === 200) {
    echo "Page loaded successfully!\n";
} else {
    echo "Error: HTTP $status\n";
}

if ($scraper->isErrorPage()) {
    echo "This is an error page (e.g., 404 or 500).\n";
}

Expected Output:

Page loaded successfully!

Explanation:

getStatusCode(): Returns the HTTP status (e.g., 200 for success, 404 for not found).
isErrorPage(): Returns true for status codes >= 400.
Helps you skip broken pages or handle errors gracefully.

Advanced Usage: Power User Mode

Ready to take your scraper to the next level? These features are like rocket boosters for your scraping adventures.

Rate Limiting: Playing Nice with Servers

Rate limiting prevents your scraper from overwhelming servers, which could lead to bans. Think of it as pacing yourself while eating cookies so you don’t get kicked out of the kitchen. Create rate_limit.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->setRateLimit(3, 1); // 3 requests per second

$urls = [
    'https://example.com',
    'https://example.org',
    'https://iana.org',
    'https://wikipedia.org'
];

foreach ($urls as $url) {
    $scraper->go($url);
    echo "Scraped: $url\n";
}

Run it:

php rate_limit.php

Expected Output:

Scraped: https://example.com
Scraped: https://example.org
Scraped: https://iana.org
Scraped: https://wikipedia.org

Explanation:

setRateLimit(3, 1): Limits to 3 requests per second.
The library pauses between requests (e.g., after 3 requests, it waits 1 second).
Prevents server overload and IP bans, especially for large-scale scraping.

Tip:

Start with a conservative limit (e.g., 5 requests/second) and adjust based on the target site’s policies.
Check the site’s robots.txt for crawling guidelines.

Queue System: Scraping Multiple URLs

The queue system lets you scrape multiple URLs efficiently, like a conveyor belt processing orders. Create queue_scrape.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$urls = [
    'https://example.com',
    'https://example.org',
    'https://iana.org'
];

// Define a callback to extract titles
$callback = function ($crawler) {
    return $crawler->filter('title')->count() ? $crawler->filter('title')->text() : 'No title';
};

// Queue URLs
$scraper->queueUrls($urls, $callback);

// Process the queue
$results = $scraper->processQueue();

// Print results
echo "Scraping Results:\n";
foreach ($results as $url => $title) {
    echo "- $url: $title\n";
}

Run it:

php queue_scrape.php

Expected Output:

Scraping Results:
- https://example.com: Example Domain
- https://example.org: Example Domain
- https://iana.org: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

Line-by-Line Explanation:

$urls: An array of URLs to scrape, like a to-do list.
$callback: A function that processes each page (here, it extracts the title).
queueUrls($urls, $callback): Adds URLs to the queue with the callback.
processQueue(): Runs the scraper on each URL and returns results as $url => $callback_result.
The foreach loop displays the results, like checking off your to-do list.

Why This is Powerful:

Handles errors gracefully (e.g., failed URLs return null).
Scales to thousands of URLs without overwhelming your script.
Customizable callbacks let you extract any data.

API Integration: Combining Scraping with APIs

You can fetch data from APIs to complement your scraped data, like adding extra toppings to a pizza. Create api_scrape.php:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Scrape the title
$title = $scraper->title();

// Fetch related data from an API
$apiData = $scraper->apiRequest('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1', [
    'query' => 'example'
], 'POST');

echo "Page Title: $title\n";
echo "API Data:\n";
echo json_encode($apiData, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT) . "\n";

Run it:

php api_scrape.php

Expected Output:

Page Title: Example Domain
API Data:
{
    "userId": 1,
    "id": 1,
    "title": "sunt aut facere repellat provident occaecati excepturi...",
    "body": "quia et suscipit\nsuscipit recusandae consequuntur..."
}

Explanation:

apiRequest($endpoint, $params, $method): Sends an HTTP request (GET or POST) to an API and returns the JSON response.
$params: Optional data to send (e.g., query parameters or POST body).
$method: HTTP method (default: GET).
Here, we scrape the page title and fetch a sample post from a public API.

Use Case:

Scrape a product page and use an API to get additional details (e.g., stock status).
Combine scraped news headlines with an API for sentiment analysis.

Custom CSS Selectors

Want to extract something specific, like a div with class content? Use filter():

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->go('https://example.com');

// Extract content from a specific div
$content = $scraper->filter('div.content')->count()
    ? $scraper->filter('div.content')->text()
    : 'No content found';

echo "Content: $content\n";

Explanation:

filter($selector): Uses CSS selectors to target elements (like div.content, .header, #main).
count(): Checks if the element exists.
text(): Gets the text inside the element.
Powerful for custom scraping when built-in methods (links(), images()) aren’t enough.

Plugins: Supercharging Your Scraper

Plugins are like apps you install on your phone to add new features. They let you extend Advance PHP Scraper without changing its core code.

What Are Plugins?

A plugin is a PHP class that adds functionality, like rendering JavaScript pages or caching responses. Plugins live in src/Plugins/custom/ and are managed via plugins.json. You can enable/disable them or create your own.

Available Plugins

The library includes six plugins, each explained in detail in the PLUGIN_README.md. Here’s a quick overview:

HeadlessPlugin: Scrapes JavaScript-rendered content (e.g., React apps).
AsyncPlugin: Scrapes multiple URLs at once for speed.
NLPPlugin: Extracts keywords and entities for text analysis.
DocumentPlugin: Parses PDFs linked on pages.
CachePlugin: Saves scraped data to reduce server load.
CloudPlugin: Runs scraping tasks on AWS Lambda.

How to Use Plugins

To use a plugin, enable it and call its methods. Example with CachePlugin:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;

$scraper = new Scraper();
$scraper->getPluginManager()->enablePlugin('CachePlugin');
$scraper->enableCache();
$scraper->go('https://example.com'); // Cached after first request

For a complete guide on plugins, including how to enable, disable, or create them, check out the PLUGIN_README.md.

Configuration: Customizing Your Scraper

You can tweak the scraper’s settings to fit your needs, like adjusting a car’s mirrors before driving.

Setting User Agent

The user agent tells servers who’s scraping (like showing your ID at a library). Default is a bot-like string, but you can mimic a browser:

$scraper->setUserAgent('Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) Chrome/91.0.4472.124');

Adjusting Timeout

Set how long the scraper waits for a response:

$scraper->setTimeout(30); // 30 seconds

Following Redirects

Choose whether to follow HTTP redirects:

$scraper->setFollowRedirects(true); // Follow redirects

Using Constructor Configuration

Pass settings when creating the scraper:

$scraper = new Scraper([
    'user_agent' => 'MyBot/1.0',
    'timeout' => 30,
    'follow_redirects' => true,
]);

Explanation:

These settings make your scraper behave differently, like choosing a fast or cautious driving mode.
Use them to avoid blocks, handle slow servers, or follow redirects.

Testing: Ensuring Everything Works

The library comes with tests to make sure it works perfectly. Think of tests as a quality check, like tasting a cake before serving it.

Running Tests

Install development dependencies:

composer install

Run tests:

vendor/bin/phpunit --configuration phpunit.xml

Expected Output:

PHPUnit 9.6.23 by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors.
.................... 20 / 20 (100%)
Time: 00:01.123, Memory: 10.00 MB
OK (20 tests, 30 assertions)

Writing Your Own Tests

Add tests in tests/. Example for a custom method:

<?php
namespace AdvancePHPSraper\Tests;
use AdvancePHPSraper\Core\Scraper;
use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;

class CustomTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testCustomMethod()
    {
        $scraper = new Scraper();
        $scraper->go('https://example.com');
        $this->assertNotEmpty($scraper->title());
    }
}

Troubleshooting: Solving Common Problems

Even the best tools can hit snags. Here’s how to fix common issues:

Installation Issues

Error: Composer not found: Install Composer (see Installation).
Error: PHP version too low: Upgrade to PHP 7.4+:
```
sudo apt-get install php7.4
```

Scraping Errors

Error: Could not resolve host: Check your internet connection or URL spelling.
Error: HTTP 403 Forbidden: Set a browser-like user agent:
```
$scraper->setUserAgent('Mozilla/5.0...');
```

Plugin Problems

Plugin not loading: Ensure "enabled": true in plugins.json.
Dependency missing: Install required packages (e.g., composer require symfony/panther).

Contributing: Joining the Community

Love the library? Help make it better! Contribute by fixing bugs, adding features, or improving docs. Read the CONTRIBUTING.md for a detailed guide.

License: Understanding Usage Rights

Advance PHP Scraper is licensed under the MIT License, meaning you can use, modify, and share it freely. See the LICENSE file for details.

Resources: Further Learning

PHP Basics: PHP The Right Way
Web Scraping: ScrapingBee Blog
Symfony BrowserKit: Symfony Docs
GitHub Repo: github.com/rajpurohithitesh/advance-phpscraper

rajpurohithitesh / advance-phpscraper

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README

Table of Contents

What is Advance PHP Scraper?

Why Use This Library?

Who Should Use It?

Key Features

Core Scraping Features

Advanced Features

Plugin System

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Installation

Verifying Installation

Basic Usage: Your First Scrape

Scraping a Simple Website

Extracting Links

Extracting Images

Extracting Meta Tags

Using the Command-Line Interface (CLI)

Intermediate Usage: Leveling Up

Scraping Sitemaps

Scraping RSS Feeds

Parsing Assets (CSV, JSON, XML)

Checking HTTP Status Codes

Advanced Usage: Power User Mode

Rate Limiting: Playing Nice with Servers

Queue System: Scraping Multiple URLs

API Integration: Combining Scraping with APIs

Custom CSS Selectors

Plugins: Supercharging Your Scraper

What Are Plugins?

Available Plugins

How to Use Plugins

Configuration: Customizing Your Scraper

Setting User Agent

Adjusting Timeout

Following Redirects

Using Constructor Configuration

Testing: Ensuring Everything Works

Running Tests

Writing Your Own Tests

Troubleshooting: Solving Common Problems

Installation Issues

Scraping Errors

Plugin Problems

Contributing: Joining the Community

License: Understanding Usage Rights

Resources: Further Learning