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To scrape an HTML table with Cheerio, fetch or supply the page’s markup, select the table, traverse its rows and cells, and map those values to meaningful headings. Cheerio parses HTML but does not run the page’s JavaScript, so a table created only after browser rendering will not be present in the source markup.
Install Cheerio and choose your Node.js version
Install the package in your project with:
npm install cheerioThe Cheerio documentation viewed for this article lists Node.js 22.19 or later as the current requirement. Check the official introduction for the requirement that applies to the version you install, since package requirements can change.
For an ES module, import Cheerio like this:
import * as cheerio from 'cheerio';In a CommonJS project, use:
const cheerio = require('cheerio');Cheerio is a server-side HTML parser, not a web browser. It does not execute scripts, apply browser layout, or render the page. If a table is already present in the HTML response, it is a good fit; if a script inserts the table after loading, you need to obtain the rendered data another way.
Fetch the page or load markup you already have
If you have an HTML string, pass it to cheerio.load. If you are retrieving a public page, check the HTTP response before parsing it so that an error page or unexpected response is not mistaken for the table.
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import * as cheerio from 'cheerio';
const url = 'https://example.com/data';
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status} ${response.statusText}`);
}
const contentType = response.headers.get('content-type') ?? '';
if (!contentType.includes('text/html')) {
throw new Error(`Expected HTML, got: ${contentType || 'no content type'}`);
}
const html = await response.text();
const $ = cheerio.load(html);Replace the example URL with a page you are permitted to access. Respect the site’s terms, access controls, and applicable law; a successful HTTP response does not grant permission to reuse the content.
Choose the loader for the input you have
cheerio.load(html)is the basic choice for an HTML string.loadBufferaccepts raw bytes when you have not already decoded the response.decodeStreamandstringStreamsupport stream-based input.fromURLcan fetch and parse a URL directly. The loading guide says it follows up to five redirects, rejects non-2xx responses and non-markup content types, selects XML mode according to the response content type, and sets the final URL as the base URI.
See the Cheerio loading guide for the current loader APIs and details. For a first scraping script, explicit fetch plus load makes response handling easy to see; use fromURL when its built-in behavior matches your needs.
Select the right table, not just the first one
A page may contain several tables: navigation, pricing, related content, or data you do not want. Prefer a stable identifier, class, caption, or distinctive containing region over $('table').first(). Cheerio supports CSS-style selectors and traversal; the exact selector must match the page’s actual markup.
// Prefer a stable id or class when the page provides one:
const table = $('table#results');
// Other possible starting points, depending on the HTML:
const byClass = $('table.data-table');
const byCaption = $('table').filter((_, el) =>
$(el).find('caption').text().trim() === 'Quarterly results'
);The caption example illustrates a selection pattern, not a guarantee about any particular site. Inspect the downloaded HTML and adapt the selector to its structure. If the table is inside a specific section, select that region first and search within it. Keep subsequent queries scoped to the chosen table to avoid accidentally collecting cells from other tables.
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Extract rows and cells into arrays
For a regular table, collect each row’s header and data cells with find('th, td'). Normalize whitespace if line breaks and indentation in the markup are irrelevant to your data.
const table = $('table#results');
if (!table.length) {
throw new Error('Results table was not found');
}
const rows = table.find('tr').toArray().map((row) =>
$(row)
.find('th, td')
.toArray()
.map((cell) => $(cell).text().trim().replace(/s+/g, ' ')),
);
console.log(rows);This returns an array of arrays. A row such as <tr><th>Name</th><td>Ada</td></tr> becomes ['Name', 'Ada']. Using .text() returns text from nested markup too, so a link or emphasis inside a cell does not prevent text extraction.
Check for missing or unexpected rows before using the result:
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if (rows.length === 0) {
throw new Error('The selected table has no rows');
}
console.log(`Found ${rows.length} table rows`);For real pages, decide whether to retain header rows, footer rows, empty cells, or nested table content. A nested table can cause a parent row’s find('th, td') to include cells from inside the nested table; if that matters, select only the intended direct children or otherwise handle nested tables separately.
Map headings to records for a simple table
If the table has exactly one header row and each data row has the same number of cells, convert the array output to objects. This common pattern assumes a regular table with one straightforward row of column headings.
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const [headers, ...dataRows] = rows;
if (!headers || headers.length === 0) {
throw new Error('No header row found');
}
const records = dataRows.map((row, index) => {
if (row.length !== headers.length) {
throw new Error(
`Row ${index + 2} has ${row.length} cells; expected ${headers.length}`
);
}
return Object.fromEntries(headers.map((header, column) => [
header,
row[column],
]));
});
console.log(records);A row with values ['Ada', 'Engineer'] and headings ['Name', 'Role'] becomes { Name: 'Ada', Role: 'Engineer' }. Validate row lengths rather than silently pairing mismatched cells; otherwise a missing cell can shift or omit data without an obvious error.
Do not assume the first row is the column header
HTML tables can use <th> for row headings as well as column headings, contain multiple header rows, or associate cells using scope, id, and headers. Examine the table’s markup and semantics before treating its first row as keys. The HTML table model describes table structure; Cheerio’s extract documentation also shows declarative extraction patterns for repeated and nested data.
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Account for rowspan and colspan
A simple row-and-cell loop returns the source cells; it does not expand spanning cells into a rectangular grid. A cell with rowspan="2" occupies a logical position in two rows, while colspan="3" occupies three columns. If your output needs one value in every grid position, you must implement span expansion or use a table-specific mapping strategy.
Before normalizing spans, inspect both attributes and decide how a repeated value should be represented in your output. A practical grid-expansion algorithm tracks occupied column positions across rows: when it encounters a cell, find the next unoccupied column, place its value across its colspan, and reserve those positions for the number of rows in its rowspan. Each following source cell goes into the next available column. This also requires handling invalid or absent span values and deciding whether to duplicate the spanning text or retain a reference to its source cell.
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If a regular array of source cells is enough for your use case, do not expand spans. If column alignment matters, test the expansion logic against the actual table, including its header rows and any nested tables. The HTML standard defines these span attributes and the table grid; they are not merely decorative metadata.
When Cheerio cannot see the table
Cheerio only parses the markup you give it. If the initial response contains a placeholder and client-side code fetches the table later, cheerio.load will not execute that code or wait for the data. Confirm this by inspecting the raw response or searching it for an expected table value.
- Look for a public data source: the page may load JSON or another endpoint that provides the table’s data directly. Use it only if it is accessible and permitted for your purpose.
- Use a rendering-capable browser tool: Puppeteer or Playwright can load a page with JavaScript and expose the resulting DOM. That adds browser setup and resource costs compared with parsing static HTML.
- Use a screenshot when the visual result is what you need: a screenshot is an image or PDF, not structured table data, so it is not a substitute for extracting cell values.
Handle common failures
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “Table was not found” | The selector does not match, the response differs from the browser view, or the table is added by JavaScript. | Inspect the response HTML, verify the selector against it, and check whether the table exists only after rendering. |
| Fetch returns an error status | The server returned a non-success response, such as a missing page or access denial. | Check the URL and response status. Do not treat an error document as the expected table. |
| Parser receives non-HTML content | The URL returned JSON, an image, or another content type. | Inspect the response content type and use the appropriate data parser or endpoint rather than parsing it as HTML. |
| Rows have different lengths | There are missing cells, spanning cells, multiple header rows, or nested table cells. | Inspect the affected rows and model the table’s structure instead of zipping every row blindly. |
| Text includes unexpected line breaks or spacing | Whitespace and nested elements in the source affect extracted text. | Normalize whitespace where appropriate, but preserve meaningful separators and values. |
| Some rows or values are absent | The data may be paginated, hidden until interaction, loaded dynamically, or outside the selected table. | Inspect pagination and page behavior; determine whether each page or a permitted data source must be handled separately. |
Cheerio’s fromURL rejects non-2xx responses and non-markup content types rather than treating them as ordinary HTML. With a separate fetch call, make those checks yourself, as in the earlier example. The loader’s redirect and content-type behavior is documented in the loading guide.
Keep scraped markup and values safe
Parsing is not sanitizing. Cheerio’s security guidance notes that scripts and event-handler attributes can remain in parsed and serialized markup. Extracting a cell’s text is different from treating its HTML as trusted content.
- Do not render scraped HTML in a trusted page without appropriate sanitization.
- Prefer text extraction when you need table values rather than markup.
- Do not interpolate untrusted input into a selector. Select stable elements, then compare untrusted values as data.
Read Cheerio’s security guide before storing or displaying scraped HTML.
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Or skip the browser setup
If you need a visual capture rather than structured cell data, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server. One GET request can return a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF; see the API documentation.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com/data -o shot.webpScreenshotNeo accepts cookie or consent banners as a visitor and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; each step can be turned off. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing, and the response identifies the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server offers take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf for Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients.
The Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots. Every feature is on every plan. A screenshot is a visual record, not an array of table values, so use Cheerio or a browser-rendered DOM when your output needs structured data. Sign up for ScreenshotNeo’s free plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Cheerio scrape a table that appears after I open a page in a browser?
Only if the table is already in the HTML you provide. Cheerio does not execute client-side JavaScript; obtain the data separately or use a browser-rendering tool.
Does Cheerio automatically expand merged table cells?
No. A basic row-and-cell traversal returns the source cells and leaves rowspan and colspan normalization to your code.
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