Remove "alink", not just change it to text

[BRGriff]

I found code on this forum written by Starson17 which allows for the changing of an "alink" to a text object. The code works fine and once converted to a text object, I can manipulate it with extra css to diminish the text's size and therefore accomplish part of what I want: to maximize the available screen area for viewing an image.

Starson17's code is:

    def preprocess_html(self, soup):
        for alink in soup.findAll('a'):
            if alink.string is not None:
               tstr = alink.string
               alink.replaceWith(tstr)
        return soup

My question is this: Once I have found the "alink" tag, as is done by Starson17's code, how can I "remove" it instead of "replacing" it with a string?

Seems to me if I could define the "tstr" as a null item, there would no longer be an "alink". I tried "tstr = []" but that did not work! Any other suggestions?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[kovidgoyal]

tag.extract()

[BRGriff]

Kovid,

I was a little frustrated that you were being so cryptic, especially since I am so very new to all of this. But I want to thank you for giving me a hint and letting me learn. I did research on your suggestion to use "tag.extract()". I fumbled around but finally got it! I can not tell you how thrilling it was, even though you could have written the code while half asleep.

        def preprocess_html(self, soup): 
          for tag in soup.findAll('a'):
            tag.extract() 
          return soup

I hope it will be added to the "Recipes Reusable Code" under Remove "alink" or "inline" html tags. Of course, the posting should be under your name as you are the one who knew what to do in the first place.


I am 90% finished with my objective but still need to deal with the font size of the TOC. I will post a question about that soon.


Thank you.

[kovidgoyal]

You're welcome, I firmly believe in teaching a man to fish, as opposed to giving him fish Nothing quite like the feeling of figuring something out for yourself.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You're welcome, I firmly believe in teaching a man to fish, as opposed to giving him fish Nothing quite like the feeling of figuring something out for yourself.

I'll throw my thanks in here as well. Your philosophy of "teach a man to fish" is more than just a philosophy - you actively put it into your work by creating the code development environment, the API, tutorials on use thereof, the recipe system, the plugin system, etc. For all of that - Thanks.