psf/requests-html

When requesting a page that is ISO-8859-1 encoded, HTML is still interpreted as UTF-8

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#442 opened on Jan 27, 2021

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help wanted

Description

When requesting a page that is ISO-8859-1 encoded:

>>> r = session.get('https://gerda.geus.dk/Gerda/Search')
>>> r.encoding
'ISO-8859-1'
>>> r.html.default_encoding
'ISO-8859-1'
>>> r.html.encoding
'utf8'
>>> r.html.find("option")[-1].text
'Bygge-anl�g'

Expected behavior:

>>> r.html.find("option")[-1].text
'Bygge-anlæg'

As far as I can see, there are two problems:

  • r.html.encoding is incorrectly set
  • r.html.element (The PyQuery instance) does not take encoding into account at all but just assumes utf-8

Contributor guide

Tech stack
pythonhtml
Domain
backend
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Python basicsHTML parsingCharacter encoding
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65
Research direction
The issue identifies two specific problems: `r.html.encoding` is incorrectly set, and the `PyQuery` instance doesn't consider encoding. Start by examining the `requests html.py` file to understand how `encoding` and `default encoding` attributes are handled. Look at the `HTML` class constructor and how it initializes PyQuery. Consider modifying the encoding detection to use the response's apparent encoding, and ensure PyQuery receives the correct encoding. Check if there are any tests in the test suite related to encoding to guide the fix.