Yes, you can use proxies with Ruby web scraping scripts. Proxies can help you to avoid IP bans, rate limits, and can provide anonymity when scraping websites. To use proxies in Ruby, you can make use of various libraries such as open-uri, Net::HTTP, or external libraries like Mechanize, or HTTParty.
Below is an example of how you can use a proxy with Net::HTTP:
require 'net/http'
proxy_addr = 'your.proxy.host'
proxy_port = 8080
uri = URI('http://example.com/')
proxy = Net::HTTP::Proxy(proxy_addr, proxy_port)
# If your proxy requires authentication
# proxy = Net::HTTP::Proxy(proxy_addr, proxy_port, 'user', 'password')
response = proxy.start(uri.host, uri.port) do |http|
http.get(uri.path)
end
puts response.body
And here's an example with the Mechanize library:
require 'mechanize'
agent = Mechanize.new
agent.set_proxy 'your.proxy.host', 8080, 'user', 'password' # user and password are optional
page = agent.get('http://example.com/')
puts page.body
Make sure to replace 'your.proxy.host', 8080, 'user', and 'password' with your actual proxy server's host, port, username, and password.
When using proxies, it's important to handle potential issues, such as:
- Proxy failure: Your code should be able to handle the case where a proxy goes down and potentially rotate to a different proxy.
- Slow proxies: Some proxies might be slow and could affect the performance of your scraping script. Implement timeouts and error handling to manage this.
- Legal and ethical considerations: Always ensure that you are scraping websites in compliance with their terms of service and legal regulations.
Additionally, if you're planning to scrape a large amount of data or scrape frequently, consider using a proxy rotation service or pool to minimize the risk of getting your IP address blocked.
