Question
How can I use JSoup to parse invalid HTML that contains unclosed tags?
String html = "<html><head><title>Test</title></head><body><div><p>Test paragraph<div>");
Document doc = Jsoup.parse(html);
Answer
JSoup is a powerful Java library designed for parsing HTML and can handle invalid HTML, including cases with unclosed tags. Below, we explore how to effectively parse such HTML while addressing common issues that arise during parsing.
String html = "<html><head><title>Test</title></head><body><div><p>Test paragraph<div>");
Document doc = Jsoup.parse(html);
// Extract information example:
String title = doc.title(); // 'Test'
String paragraph = doc.select("p").text(); // 'Test paragraph'
Causes
- Unclosed tags in HTML can cause parsers to misinterpret the document structure.
- HTML might not be well-formed due to missing closing tags, leading to exceptions or incorrect DOM trees.
Solutions
- Use JSoup's parse method that automatically fixes common HTML issues.
- Enable validation settings to adapt to invalid HTML structures.
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Not handling exceptions when parsing invalid HTML.
Solution: Wrap your parsing code in a try-catch block to gracefully handle parsing errors.
Mistake: Assuming the structure of the output will always match valid HTML.
Solution: Inspect the parsed document to confirm structure and handle missing elements accordingly.
Helpers
- JSoup
- parse invalid HTML
- unclosed tags JSoup
- HTML parsing library
- Java HTML parser
