HTML Table to CSV Converter

This Rust application downloads HTML content from a URL, extracts HTML tables, and converts them to CSV format.

Features

Features

• Downloads HTML content from any URL
• Parses HTML and extracts table data
• Converts table data to CSV format with customizable options
• Command-line interface for easy usage
• Configurable CSV delimiter
• Flexible field quoting options
• Header removal option
• Column-specific quoting
• Column filtering (show only specified columns)

Dependencies

The application uses the following Rust crates:

• clap - Command line argument parsing
• ureq - HTTP client for downloading HTML with rustls TLS support

Current Implementation

The current implementation includes:

1. URL argument parsing - Uses clap to handle command line arguments with extensive options
2. HTML downloading - Uses ureq HTTP client with rustls TLS support
3. HTML table parsing - Robust HTML table parsing without external HTML parsing dependencies
4. CSV conversion - Converts extracted table data to CSV format with customizable options:
   • Configurable delimiter (comma, pipe, semicolon, etc.)
   • Flexible quoting modes (never, always, as-needed)
   • Header removal option
   • Column-specific quoting
   • Column filtering to show only specified fields
5. Error handling - Proper error handling and user feedback

Building

To build the project:

cargo build --release

To run tests:

cargo test

To run example:

cargo run -- https://gist.githubusercontent.com/bella92/4184664/raw/82982ace341d5a579ad53b53a47bcf58c7dea5ee/1.%2520Fresh-fruits

Getting Started

# Basic usage - download and convert tables from a URL
$ html-table-csv-converter "https://example.com/page-with-tables"

# Use pipe delimiter instead of comma
$ html-table-csv-converter -d "|" "https://example.com/page-with-tables"

# Always quote all fields
$ html-table-csv-converter --quote-fields always "https://example.com/page-with-tables"

# Remove headers from output
$ html-table-csv-converter --no-header "https://example.com/page-with-tables"

# Quote only specific columns (1-based indexing)
$ html-table-csv-converter --quote-columns "1,3" "https://example.com/page-with-tables"

# Show only specific columns
$ html-table-csv-converter --show-fields "1,3" "https://example.com/page-with-tables"

# Combine options
$ html-table-csv-converter -d ";" --quote-fields never --no-header --show-fields "2,4" "https://example.com/page-with-tables"

Command Line Options

• -d, --delimiter <CHAR>: Change delimiter character (default: ',')
• -q, --quote-fields <MODE>: Quote fields mode: never, always, asneeded (default: asneeded)
• --no-header: Remove table headers from output
• --quote-columns <COLUMNS>: Only quote specific columns (comma-separated indices, e.g., '1,3')
• --show-fields <COLUMNS>: Show only specified columns (comma-separated indices, e.g., '1,3,5')

Example Output

For a table like:

<table>
  <tr><th>Name</th><th>Age</th><th>City</th></tr>
  <tr><td>John Doe</td><td>25</td><td>New York</td></tr>
  <tr><td>Jane Smith</td><td>30</td><td>Los Angeles</td></tr>
</table>

The output will be:

Name,Age,City
John Doe,25,New York
Jane Smith,30,Los Angeles

With different options:

# Using pipe delimiter
Name|Age|City
John Doe|25|New York
Jane Smith|30|Los Angeles

# With always quote
"Name","Age","City"
"John Doe","25","New York"
"Jane Smith","30","Los Angeles"

# Without header
John Doe,25,New York
Jane Smith,30,Los Angeles

# Show only columns 1 and 3 (Name and City)
Name,City
John Doe,New York
Jane Smith,Los Angeles