How to Extract CSS from an HTML Page: Methods and Tools

Extracting CSS from an HTML page can be a complex task, especially when dealing with large web pages or dynamic sites. However, with the right tools and techniques, you can achieve this efficiently. In this guide, we will explore multiple methods to extract CSS from an HTML page, including manual extraction, using web scraping tools, and leveraging browser developer tools.

Manual Extraction

For those who prefer a hands-on approach, manual extraction is a straightforward method. Here are the steps to extract CSS from an HTML page manually:

Open the HTML file using a text editor.

Search for style tags within the HTML. These tags contain embedded CSS code.

Copy the CSS code between the style and /style tags.

Locate link tags with a rel attribute set to stylesheet. These tags point to external CSS files.

Note the href attribute, which contains the URL of the CSS file. Download these files using a browser or a tool like curl or wget.

Using a Web Scraping Tool

For an automated and more efficient solution, you can use web scraping libraries like BeautifulSoup in Python. Below is a sample script that demonstrates how to extract CSS from an HTML page using BeautifulSoup:

import requestsfrom bs4 import BeautifulSoup# Load the HTML pageurl  ''  # Replace with your URLresponse  (url)html  response.text# Parse the HTMLsoup  BeautifulSoup(html, '')# Extract CSS from  tagsstyles  [style.text for style in _all('style')]# Extract links to external CSS filescss_links  [link['href'] for link in _all('link', rel'stylesheet')]# Output the resultsprint('CSS from style tags:')for style in styles:    print(style)print('
External CSS files:')for css in css_links:    print(css)

Browser Developer Tools

For those who prefer using the browser, the developer tools provide a convenient way to extract CSS from a web page. Here are the steps:

Open Developer Tools. In your web browser, right-click on the page and select F12.

Go to the Sources tab. Look for style and link elements in the DOM.

View and copy CSS. You can copy the CSS from style tags directly or open the linked CSS files in a new tab and copy the content.

Efficient Web Scraping with Google Chrome Extensions

For a more user-friendly approach, you can use a Google Chrome extension to quickly extract CSS from a web page. Here's how to do it:

Install the CSS Used extension from the Chrome Web Store. Click here to add the extension.

Open the web page where you want to extract CSS.

Press F12, then Ctrl Shift J, Ctrl Shift I, or Ctrl Shift C.

Click on Elements.

Click on CSS Used. You can now copy the CSS only in the clipboard, highlighted in the sample.

Conclusion

These methods offer various ways to extract CSS from an HTML page, catering to different levels of complexity and preference. Whether you choose to do it manually, use a web scraping tool, or leverage browser developer tools, you can effectively achieve your goal of extracting CSS.