This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title       : 	totext.py - Convert URL or RSS feed to text with readability
Author      : 	Remy van Elst
Date        : 	18-04-2019
URL         : 	https://raymii.org/s/software/totext.py-Convert_URL_or_RSS_feed_to_plaintext_with_readability.html
Format      : 	Markdown/HTML
---



Love plaintext? This script downloads an URL, parses it with readability and
returns the plaintext (as markdown). It supports RSS feeds (will convert every
article in the feed) and saves every article.

My usecase is twofold. One is to convert RSS feeds to a [Gopher site][1], the
second is to get full text in my RSS reader.

The script contains a few workarounds for so-called cookiewalls. It also pauses
between RSS feed articles to not do excessive requests.

The readability part is handled by Python, no external services are used.

<p class="ad"> <b>Recently I removed all Google Ads from this site due to their invasive tracking, as well as Google Analytics. Please, if you found this content useful, consider a small donation using any of the options below:</b><br><br> <a href="https://leafnode.nl">I'm developing an open source monitoring app called  Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!</a><br><br> <a href="https://github.com/sponsors/RaymiiOrg/">Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.</a><br><br> <a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212">You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $200 credit for 60 days. Spend $25 after your credit expires and I'll get $25!</a><br><br> </p>


Here's an example of a news article. On the left, the text-only parsed version,
on the right, the webpage:

![][3]

[Github repo with source code][4]

## Installation

First install the required libraries.

On Ubuntu:

    
    
    apt-get install python python-pip #python2
    pip install html2text requests readability-lxml feedparser
    

Other distro's, use the `pip` command above.

Clone the repository:

    
    
    git clone https://github.com/RaymiiOrg/to-text.py
    

## Usage

    
    
    usage: totext.py [-h] -u URL [-s SLEEP] [-r] [-n]
    
    Convert HTML page to text using readability and html2text.
    
    arguments:
      -h, --help            show this help message and exit
      -u URL, --url URL     URL to convert (Required)
      -s SLEEP, --sleep SLEEP
                            Sleep X seconds between URLs (only in rss)
      -r, --rss             URL is RSS feed. Parse every item in feed
      -n, --noprint         Dont print converted contents
    

If you want to run the script via a cronjob, use the `-n` option to not have
output.

If the parsing failed, the article will contain the text: `parsing failed`.

## Examples

    
    
    python totext.py --rss --url https://raymii.org/s/feed.xml
    python totext.py --url https://www.rd.nl/vandaag/binnenland/grootste-stijging-verkeersdoden-in-jaren-1.1562067
    

## Saved text

Every file converted will also be saved to the folder `saved/$hostname`. The
filenames are sorted by date.

## License

GNU GPLv2.

   [1]: https://raymii.org/s/blog/Site_updates_raymii.org_now_on_gopher.html
   [2]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
   [3]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/txtnws.png
   [4]: https://github.com/RaymiiOrg/to-text.py

---

License:
All the text on this website is free as in freedom unless stated otherwise. 
This means you can use it in any way you want, you can copy it, change it 
the way you like and republish it, as long as you release the (modified) 
content under the same license to give others the same freedoms you've got 
and place my name and a link to this site with the article as source.

This site uses Google Analytics for statistics and Google Adwords for 
advertisements. You are tracked and Google knows everything about you. 
Use an adblocker like ublock-origin if you don't want it.

All the code on this website is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 license 
unless already licensed under a license which does not allows this form 
of licensing or if another license is stated on that page / in that software:

    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
    (at your option) any later version.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Just to be clear, the information on this website is for meant for educational 
purposes and you use it at your own risk. I do not take responsibility if you 
screw something up. Use common sense, do not 'rm -rf /' as root for example. 
If you have any questions then do not hesitate to contact me.

See https://raymii.org/s/static/About.html for details.