<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>urllib.robotparser — Parser for robots.txt — Python 3.7.4 documentation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pydoctheme.css" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript" id="documentation_options" data-url_root="../" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/underscore.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/language_data.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search within Python 3.7.4 documentation" href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/> <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" /> <link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" /> <link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" /> <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" /> <link rel="next" title="http — HTTP modules" href="http.html" /> <link rel="prev" title="urllib.error — Exception classes raised by urllib.request" href="urllib.error.html" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.png" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/urllib.robotparser.html" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/switchers.js"></script> <style> @media only screen { table.full-width-table { width: 100%; } } </style> </head><body> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" accesskey="I">index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="http.html" title="http — HTTP modules" accesskey="N">next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="urllib.error.html" title="urllib.error — Exception classes raised by urllib.request" accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <span class="language_switcher_placeholder">en</span> <span class="version_switcher_placeholder">3.7.4</span> <a href="../index.html">Documentation </a> » </li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-2"><a href="internet.html" accesskey="U">Internet Protocols and Support</a> »</li> <li class="right"> <div class="inline-search" style="display: none" role="search"> <form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input placeholder="Quick search" type="text" name="q" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" /> <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" /> </form> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('.inline-search').show(0);</script> | </li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body" role="main"> <div class="section" id="module-urllib.robotparser"> <span id="urllib-robotparser-parser-for-robots-txt"></span><h1><a class="reference internal" href="#module-urllib.robotparser" title="urllib.robotparser: Load a robots.txt file and answer questions about fetchability of other URLs."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">urllib.robotparser</span></code></a> — Parser for robots.txt<a class="headerlink" href="#module-urllib.robotparser" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1> <p><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/tree/3.7/Lib/urllib/robotparser.py">Lib/urllib/robotparser.py</a></p> <hr class="docutils" id="index-0" /> <p>This module provides a single class, <a class="reference internal" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser" title="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">RobotFileParser</span></code></a>, which answers questions about whether or not a particular user agent can fetch a URL on the Web site that published the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> file. For more details on the structure of <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> files, see <a class="reference external" href="http://www.robotstxt.org/orig.html">http://www.robotstxt.org/orig.html</a>.</p> <dl class="class"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser"> <em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">urllib.robotparser.</code><code class="descname">RobotFileParser</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>url=''</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This class provides methods to read, parse and answer questions about the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> file at <em>url</em>.</p> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.set_url"> <code class="descname">set_url</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>url</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.set_url" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Sets the URL referring to a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> file.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.read"> <code class="descname">read</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.read" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Reads the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> URL and feeds it to the parser.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.parse"> <code class="descname">parse</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>lines</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.parse" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Parses the lines argument.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.can_fetch"> <code class="descname">can_fetch</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>useragent</em>, <em>url</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.can_fetch" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Returns <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">True</span></code> if the <em>useragent</em> is allowed to fetch the <em>url</em> according to the rules contained in the parsed <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> file.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.mtime"> <code class="descname">mtime</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.mtime" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Returns the time the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> file was last fetched. This is useful for long-running web spiders that need to check for new <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> files periodically.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.modified"> <code class="descname">modified</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.modified" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Sets the time the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> file was last fetched to the current time.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.crawl_delay"> <code class="descname">crawl_delay</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>useragent</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.crawl_delay" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Returns the value of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Crawl-delay</span></code> parameter from <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> for the <em>useragent</em> in question. If there is no such parameter or it doesn’t apply to the <em>useragent</em> specified or the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> entry for this parameter has invalid syntax, return <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>.</p> <div class="versionadded"> <p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 3.6.</span></p> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.request_rate"> <code class="descname">request_rate</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em>useragent</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.request_rate" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Returns the contents of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Request-rate</span></code> parameter from <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> as a <a class="reference internal" href="../glossary.html#term-named-tuple"><span class="xref std std-term">named tuple</span></a> <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">RequestRate(requests,</span> <span class="pre">seconds)</span></code>. If there is no such parameter or it doesn’t apply to the <em>useragent</em> specified or the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">robots.txt</span></code> entry for this parameter has invalid syntax, return <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code>.</p> <div class="versionadded"> <p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 3.6.</span></p> </div> </dd></dl> </dd></dl> <p>The following example demonstrates basic use of the <a class="reference internal" href="#urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser" title="urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">RobotFileParser</span></code></a> class:</p> <div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">urllib.robotparser</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rp</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">urllib</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">robotparser</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">RobotFileParser</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_url</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"http://www.musi-cal.com/robots.txt"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">read</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rrate</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">rp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">request_rate</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"*"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rrate</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">requests</span> <span class="go">3</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rrate</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">seconds</span> <span class="go">20</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">crawl_delay</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"*"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">6</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">can_fetch</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"*"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"http://www.musi-cal.com/cgi-bin/search?city=San+Francisco"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">False</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">rp</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">can_fetch</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"*"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"http://www.musi-cal.com/"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">True</span> </pre></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation"> <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"> <h4>Previous topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="urllib.error.html" title="previous chapter"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">urllib.error</span></code> — Exception classes raised by urllib.request</a></p> <h4>Next topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="http.html" title="next chapter"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">http</span></code> — HTTP modules</a></p> <div role="note" aria-label="source link"> <h3>This Page</h3> <ul class="this-page-menu"> <li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li> <li> <a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.7/Doc/library/urllib.robotparser.rst" rel="nofollow">Show Source </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> </div> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" >index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="http.html" title="http — HTTP modules" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="urllib.error.html" title="urllib.error — Exception classes raised by urllib.request" >previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; 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