02/02/2026, 11:06 How to Read HTML Tables with Pandas (Including Example)

About Course Basic Stats Machine Learning Software Tutorials  Tools 

How to Read HTML Tables with

Pandas (Including Example)
 BY ZACH BOBBITT  LAST UPDATED ON DECEMBER 16, 2021

You can use the pandas read_html() function to

read HTML tables into a pandas DataFrame.

This function uses the following basic syntax:

df = pd.read_html('[Link]

The following example shows how to use this

function to read in a table of NBA team names
from this Wikipedia page.

Example: Read HTML Table with

Pandas

Before using the read_html() function, you’ll

likely have to install lxml:

pip install lxml

Note: If you’re using a Jupyter notebook, you

need to restart the kernel after performing this
installation.

Next, we can use the read_html() function to

read every HTML table on this Wikipedia page:

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import [Link] as plt
from unicodedata import normalize

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#read all HTML tables from specific URL

tabs = pd.read_html('[Link]

#display total number of tables read

len(tabs)

44

We can see that a total of 44 HTML tables were

found on this page.

I know that the table I’m interested in has the

word “Division” in it, so I can use the match
argument to only retrieve HTML tables that
contain this word:

#read HTML tables from specific URL with the word "D
tabs = pd.read_html('[Link]
match='Division')

#display total number of tables read

len(tabs)

I can then list the names of the columns of the

table:

#define table
df = tabs[0]

#list all column names of table

list(df)

[('Division', 'Eastern Conference'),

('Team', 'Eastern Conference'),
('Location', 'Eastern Conference'),
('Arena', 'Eastern Conference'),
('Capacity', 'Eastern Conference'),
('Coordinates', 'Eastern Conference'),
('Founded', 'Eastern Conference'),

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('Joined', 'Eastern Conference'),
('Unnamed: 8_level_0', 'Eastern Conference')]

I’m only interested in the first two columns, so I

can filter the DataFrame to only contain these
columns:

#filter DataFrame to only contain first two columns

df_final = [Link][:, 0:2]

#rename columns
df_final.columns = ['Division', 'Team']

#view first few rows of final DataFrame

print(df_final.head())

Division Team
0 Atlantic Boston Celtics
1 Atlantic Brooklyn Nets
2 Atlantic New York Knicks
3 Atlantic Philadelphia 76ers
4 Atlantic Toronto Raptors

The final table contains only the ‘Division’ and

‘Team’ columns.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to read other

types of files in pandas:

How to Read a Text File with Pandas

How to Read Excel Files with Pandas
How to Read CSV Files with Pandas

POSTED IN PROGRAMMING •

Zach Bobbitt
Hey there. My name is Zach Bobbitt. I
have a Masters of Science degree in
Applied Statistics and I’ve worked on

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machine learning algorithms for professional

businesses in both healthcare and retail. I’m
passionate about statistics, machine learning, and
data visualization and I created Statology to be a
resource for both students and teachers alike. My
goal with this site is to help you learn statistics through
using simple terms, plenty of real-world examples, and
helpful illustrations.

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