{"id":371,"date":"2025-12-17T11:31:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T11:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/softfix.in\/blogs\/?p=371"},"modified":"2026-02-24T07:49:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:49:58","slug":"web-scraping-and-how-it-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/softfix.in\/blogs\/web-scraping-and-how-it-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Need To Know About Web Scraping and How to Use It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Web scraping is an automated method to take out large amounts of data from websites. Data (generally in HTML format) is reshaped into organized formats like spreadsheets or databases for further use. It can be executed through online tools: API or custom code. A major website like Google and Facebook provides APIs for structured data access. Web scraping is often used for sites that lack such options or restrict data access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Web scraping comprises two main elements: a crawler and a scraper! Let\u2019s understand them with a table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feature<\/strong><\/strong><\/td>Crawler<\/strong><\/strong><\/td>Scraper<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Meaning<\/td>A program that moves through websites by following links<\/td>A tool that collects specific data from web pages<\/td><\/tr>
Main purpose<\/td>To find and discover web pages<\/td>To extract the required information<\/td><\/tr>
How it works<\/td>Visits pages and follows links automatically<\/td>Reads pages and pulls selected data<\/td><\/tr>
Type of output<\/td>Website URLs and page locations<\/td>Text. Images. Prices. Other data<\/td><\/tr>
Project role<\/td>Used at the start to find pages<\/td>Used after crawling to collect data<\/td><\/tr>
Easy example<\/td>Exploring all aisles in a store<\/td>Picking only the needed items from the shelves<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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