Before you begin
- Python 3.12 or newer
Set up your example
- Save the complete code as robots-check.py in a working folder.
- Save the provided sample files in that same folder; run commands from that folder.
- For the provided local HTTP examples, open another terminal in this folder and run: python -m http.server 8765 --bind 127.0.0.1. Keep it running while using the tool.
Sample files in this download:
- urls.txt
- sample.txt
- data.json
- page1.json
- page2.json
- robots.txt
- ips.txt
Download the ZIP, extract it, and open a terminal inside the extracted folder. The source file is robots-check.py.
Run the script
python "robots-check.py" --base-url "http://127.0.0.1:8765/" --path "/private/notes" --output "robots-check.json"If your system uses python3 instead of python, use that command for Python examples. Keep paths containing spaces in quotes. Required inputs and optional settings are described in the code and setup steps.
What to expect
Evaluate a supplied path against one fetched robots.txt without fetching the path. The local fixture disallows /private/notes for the default user agent.
The complete script
#!/usr/bin/env python3
'Check a path against a fetched robots.txt'
import argparse
import json
from pathlib import Path
def write_json(path, value):
data = json.dumps(value, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False, allow_nan=False) + "\n"
with Path(path).open("x", encoding="utf-8", newline="") as handle:
handle.write(data)
import urllib.request
import urllib.error
import urllib.parse
import urllib.robotparser
import socket
import ssl
import time
import re
import ipaddress
import queue
import threading
from datetime import datetime, timezone
def url(value):
parts=urllib.parse.urlsplit(value)
if parts.scheme not in {"http","https"} or not parts.hostname or parts.username is not None or parts.password is not None:
raise ValueError("Use an http(s) URL without embedded credentials.")
return value
def request(address,timeout,method="GET",headers=None,limit=1024*1024,opener=None):
url(address)
if not 0<timeout<=120: raise ValueError("Timeout must be 0..120 seconds, excluding zero.")
req=urllib.request.Request(address,method=method,headers={"User-Agent":"ScriptageLearning/1.0",**(headers or {})})
try: response=(opener.open(req,timeout=timeout) if opener else urllib.request.urlopen(req,timeout=timeout))
except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc: response=exc
with response:
data=response.read(limit+1) if limit else b""
if len(data)>limit: raise ValueError("Response exceeds the byte limit.")
return response.status,response.geturl(),{k.lower():v for k,v in response.headers.items()},data
def checked(address,timeout,**kwargs):
status,final,headers,data=request(address,timeout,**kwargs)
if not 200<=status<300: raise ValueError("HTTP status "+str(status))
return final,headers,data
def urls(path):
result=[line.strip() for line in Path(path).read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines() if line.strip()]
if len(result)>100: raise ValueError("At most 100 URLs per run.")
return result
def resolve(host,port,timeout):
result=queue.Queue()
def work():
try: result.put((True,socket.getaddrinfo(host,port,type=socket.SOCK_STREAM)))
except OSError as exc: result.put((False,str(exc)))
threading.Thread(target=work,daemon=True).start()
try: ok,value=result.get(timeout=timeout)
except queue.Empty: raise ValueError("DNS lookup timed out.")
if not ok: raise ValueError(value)
return value
def connect(host,port,timeout):
last=None
for family,kind,proto,_,address in resolve(host,port,timeout):
connection=socket.socket(family,kind,proto)
connection.settimeout(timeout)
try:
connection.connect(address)
return connection
except OSError as exc:
last=exc
connection.close()
raise OSError(str(last))
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Check a path against a fetched robots.txt')
parser.add_argument("--output",required=True,help="New output file")
parser.add_argument("--timeout",type=float,default=10,help="Per-operation timeout in seconds")
parser.add_argument("--base-url",required=True)
parser.add_argument("--path",required=True)
parser.add_argument("--user-agent",default="ScriptageLearning")
args = parser.parse_args()
if not 0<args.timeout<=120: raise ValueError("Timeout must be greater than zero and at most 120.")
base=urllib.parse.urlsplit(url(args.base_url))
origin=urllib.parse.urlunsplit((base.scheme,base.netloc,"/","",""))
robots_url=urllib.parse.urljoin(origin,"robots.txt")
_,_,data=checked(robots_url,args.timeout)
rules=urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser()
rules.set_url(robots_url)
rules.parse(data.decode("utf-8-sig").splitlines())
target=urllib.parse.urljoin(origin,args.path)
if urllib.parse.urlsplit(target).netloc!=base.netloc: raise ValueError("Path must stay on the supplied origin.")
write_json(args.output,{"robots_url":robots_url,"target":target,"user_agent":args.user_agent,"allowed":rules.can_fetch(args.user_agent,target)})
if __name__ == "__main__":
try:
main()
except (OSError, ValueError, KeyError, TypeError, ArithmeticError, IndexError, LookupError) as exc:
raise SystemExit(str(exc))
Open source as plain text · Download source and sample files
How it works
- The command names every destination explicitly and refuses an existing output.
- The standard-library parser interprets the rules; an unavailable robots file stops this tool rather than inventing an allow policy.
- The local fixture disallows /private/notes for the default user agent.
Make it your own
--user-agent
Set --user-agent to the exact crawler identity you are evaluating.
Adapt the processing
Edit main's output to include rules.crawl_delay(args.user_agent) when provided.
Change one setting at a time, run it again on sample data, and compare the output. The customization guide walks through this process.
If something goes wrong
robots.txt returns 404.
No file was available to evaluate; inspect site policy explicitly instead of assuming permission.
The destination already exists.
Choose a new --output path. The script deliberately refuses to replace an existing result.
Reference & next steps
These official references explain the underlying tools. The Scriptage example and guide are original instructional content. See verification notes for what has been checked and the limits of those checks.
Copies a template for your own notes. It does not send anything.