Google Calculator command line tool

Justin_Bailey · 7 October 2005 00:31

I whipped a quick script to send queries to Google and scrape results
if it's a valid "calculator" query. If you don't know what I mean, put
"5 + 5" into the Google search box. I love the feature but hate having
to open a web browser each time I want to use it. Thus, this script!

I'm pretty much a n00b to Ruby so any feedback, improvements, comments
are appreciated. Enjoy!

--- cut here ---
require 'net/http'
require 'cgi'

format_result = Proc.new { |s|
s.gsub("
",",").gsub("×","x").gsub("","^").gsub("", "")
}

matchExp = Regexp.new("<td><img
src=/images/calc_img.gif></td><td> </td><td nowrap>(.*?) =
(.*?)")
while ((! (print "Enter an expression (exit to quit): "; line =
gets).nil?) && line.strip.upcase != "EXIT")
 resp =
Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse("http://www.google.com/search?q=#{CGI.escape(line.strip)}"))
 if resp.code == "200"
 begin
 matches = matchExp.match(resp.body)
 puts "==>" + format_result.call(matches[2])
 rescue NoMethodError
 puts "==> Expression not understood."
 rescue
 puts "==> Expression not understood. (#{$!.class.inspect},
#{$!.inspect})"
 end
 else
 puts "==> Response error: #{resp.code}"
 end
end

Justin_Bailey · 7 October 2005 00:46

I should have explained the format_result proc a little. Google's
responses have spaces (using ' ') instead of
commas, so that is the first replacement. The second two deal with
scientific notation. Try entering a query like "400 lightyears * 10
parsecs" and you will see the characters its trying to replace.

Devin_Mullins · 7 October 2005 03:57

Hi,

m4dc4p wrote:

format_result = Proc.new { |s|
s.gsub("
",",").gsub("×","x").gsub("","^").gsub("", "")
}

Why not just def format_result(s) ... end?

D3v1n

Ptkwt · 7 October 2005 18:41

In article <1128645005.327652.154530@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,

I whipped a quick script to send queries to Google and scrape results
if it's a valid "calculator" query. If you don't know what I mean, put
"5 + 5" into the Google search box. I love the feature but hate having
to open a web browser each time I want to use it. Thus, this script!

Google is now a calculator?! Uh, errr, umm, this is getting a little bit out
of hand, no?

You could also use irb as a calculator:
irb(main):009:0> 5+5
=> 10

I'm pretty much a n00b to Ruby so any feedback, improvements, comments
are appreciated. Enjoy!

--- cut here ---
require 'net/http'
require 'cgi'

format_result = Proc.new { |s|
s.gsub("
",",").gsub("×","x").gsub("","^").gsub("", "")
}

matchExp = Regexp.new("<td><img
src=/images/calc_img.gif></td><td> </td><td nowrap>(.*?) =
(.*?)")
while ((! (print "Enter an expression (exit to quit): "; line =
gets).nil?) && line.strip.upcase != "EXIT")
resp =
Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse("Google))
if resp.code == "200"
 begin
 matches = matchExp.match(resp.body)
 puts "==>" + format_result.call(matches[2])
 rescue NoMethodError
 puts "==> Expression not understood."
 rescue
 puts "==> Expression not understood. (#{$!.class.inspect},
#{$!.inspect})"
 end
else
 puts "==> Response error: #{resp.code}"
end
end

Well, that's, uh, cool, but there's gotta be easier ways to add numbers

Phil

···

m4dc4p <jgbailey@gmail.com> wrote:

Ptkwt · 7 October 2005 18:46

In article <1128645005.327652.154530@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,

I whipped a quick script to send queries to Google and scrape results
if it's a valid "calculator" query. If you don't know what I mean, put
"5 + 5" into the Google search box. I love the feature but hate having
to open a web browser each time I want to use it. Thus, this script!

I'm pretty much a n00b to Ruby so any feedback, improvements, comments
are appreciated. Enjoy!

--- cut here ---
require 'net/http'
require 'cgi'

format_result = Proc.new { |s|
s.gsub("
",",").gsub("×","x").gsub("","^").gsub("", "")
}

matchExp = Regexp.new("<td><img
src=/images/calc_img.gif></td><td> </td><td nowrap>(.*?) =
(.*?)")
while ((! (print "Enter an expression (exit to quit): "; line =
gets).nil?) && line.strip.upcase != "EXIT")
resp =
Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse("Google))
if resp.code == "200"
 begin
 matches = matchExp.match(resp.body)
 puts "==>" + format_result.call(matches[2])
 rescue NoMethodError
 puts "==> Expression not understood."
 rescue
 puts "==> Expression not understood. (#{$!.class.inspect},
#{$!.inspect})"
 end
else
 puts "==> Response error: #{resp.code}"
end
end

Sorry for two replies to the same post, but I tried your code and I always
get Expression not understood:

Enter an expression (exit to quit): 20 + 20
==> Expression not understood.

Oh, and as a former boss of mine used to say often: "Rube Goldberg would be
proud" (of this very convoluted method for adding numbers.

Phil

···

m4dc4p <jgbailey@gmail.com> wrote:

Austin_Ziegler5 · 7 October 2005 02:05

For what it's worth, it's probably better to look at reimplementing
this using the Google WS API, because Google looks down (harshly) on
screen scraping.

-austin

···

On 10/6/05, m4dc4p <jgbailey@gmail.com> wrote:

I should have explained the format_result proc a little. Google's
responses have spaces (using ' ') instead of
commas, so that is the first replacement. The second two deal with
scientific notation. Try entering a query like "400 lightyears * 10
parsecs" and you will see the characters its trying to replace.

--
Austin Ziegler * halostatue@gmail.com
* Alternate: austin@halostatue.ca

Justin_Bailey · 7 October 2005 16:01

I thought I had tried that but obviously I did something wrong. Thanks
for the suggestion - its a little clearer now.

Wilson_Bilkovich · 7 October 2005 18:51

Actually, it's a little cooler than anything built into IRB. For example:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=121+feet+in+furlongs&btnG=Google+Search

or:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=15+pound+feet+in+newton+meters&btnG=Search

···

On 10/7/05, Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:

In article <1128645005.327652.154530@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
m4dc4p <jgbailey@gmail.com> wrote:
>I whipped a quick script to send queries to Google and scrape results
>if it's a valid "calculator" query. If you don't know what I mean, put
>"5 + 5" into the Google search box. I love the feature but hate having
>to open a web browser each time I want to use it. Thus, this script!

Google is now a calculator?! Uh, errr, umm, this is getting a little bit out
of hand, no?

You could also use irb as a calculator:
irb(main):009:0> 5+5
=> 10

>
>I'm pretty much a n00b to Ruby so any feedback, improvements, comments
>are appreciated. Enjoy!
>
>--- cut here ---
>require 'net/http'
>require 'cgi'
>
>format_result = Proc.new { |s|
> s.gsub("
>",",").gsub("×","x").gsub("","^").gsub("", "")
>}
>
>matchExp = Regexp.new("<td><img
>src=/images/calc_img.gif></td><td> </td><td nowrap>(.*?) =
>(.*?)")
>while ((! (print "Enter an expression (exit to quit): "; line =
>gets).nil?) && line.strip.upcase != "EXIT")
> resp =
>Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse("Google))
> if resp.code == "200"
> begin
> matches = matchExp.match(resp.body)
> puts "==>" + format_result.call(matches[2])
> rescue NoMethodError
> puts "==> Expression not understood."
> rescue
> puts "==> Expression not understood. (#{$!.class.inspect},
>#{$!.inspect})"
> end
> else
> puts "==> Response error: #{resp.code}"
> end
>end
>

Well, that's, uh, cool, but there's gotta be easier ways to add numbers

Phil

Ryan_Leavengood · 7 October 2005 18:52

Google has had this for a while, and I find it most useful for doing
unit conversions:

http://www.google.com/search?q=3.4+miles+%3D+%3F+km
http://www.google.com/search?q=500+acres+%3D+%3F+square+miles

I wouldn't use it for 5+5 of course, but it can do some pretty complex math.

For more info: Google Search Help

Ryan

···

On 10/7/05, Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:

Google is now a calculator?! Uh, errr, umm, this is getting a little bit out
of hand, no?

Justin_Bailey · 7 October 2005 20:21

Phil,

Comment out all the exception handling and you should see the error you
are getting. I imagine it's either some weird newline/whitespace that
is getting into the input (though all of that should be stripped ...)
or Google is returning a result format the script doesn't expect. It's
pretty fragile.

Note to self - get decent newsreader software. This google groups stuff
is really lacking.

James_Britt4 · 7 October 2005 02:35

Austin Ziegler wrote:

For what it's worth, it's probably better to look at reimplementing
this using the Google WS API, because Google looks down (harshly) on
screen scraping.

Is that what this is?

I believe Google is concerned with the extraction and reuse of search data to drive (part of) another site or application. I see the Google Calculator app to be an implementation of a Web browser: Make an HTTP request, get back the text, and render it.

James

Greg_Brown · 10 October 2005 05:51

m4dc4p wrote:

Note to self - get decent newsreader software. This google groups stuff
is really lacking.

Yeah, it is in some regard but if you mean you can't snip posts, I
recently found out that if you hit options and then hit reply there
instead of directly under the post it lets you do snipping properly.

Justin_Bailey · 7 October 2005 16:06

The needs for this script are so lightweight, it just didn't seem worth
it to go through the pain of figuring out how to call Google's WS API.
I did look into it, and if it had allowed me to make calculator
specific queries I would have used it. Unfortunately, it does not. I'm
not sure what results it would return for this kind of query but it
seemed a lot simpler just to extract the results from their results
page.

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Google Calculator command line tool

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