Question

I am writing this little python program that will get new posts on the website http://www.fmylife.com and I want this program to print these new posts. An easy task even though I just started, but for some reason I cannot get the code to stop printing the same post.

import urllib.request,time

def getFml():
    rawfml = urllib.request.urlopen("http://www.fmylife.com")
    refml = rawfml.read()
    fml = refml.decode("utf8")
    rawfml.close()
    return fml
def parseFml(fml):
    fml=fml.split('Today,')
    fml=fml[1]
    for char in fml:
        if char in '0123456789<>/="#()-;:"\',':
            fml=fml.replace(char,'')
    fml=fml.split('FMLapdiv')
    fml=fml[0]
    fml=fml.split('aa')
    fml=''.join(fml)
    return fml
    listy=   ['date','left_parta','votej','idvotea','onclickvote','jTipa','comments','right_partp','fmllink','clear','post','hrefwork','class','dyn','javascript','div','classright_partp','hrefmiscellaneous','classdyncomments''div','article','idpa','classclear','classpost','hreflove','classfmlling','FMLap','classdate','classleft_parta','id_','nameresume','classjTipa','span','classdyn-commentsspan','classright_partpspan','classdyn-vote-j','idcotea','hrefjavascript;:','classfmllink','href']
for x in range(len(listy)):
    fml=fml.replace(listy[x],'')
    return fml
oldfml=''
count=0
while True:
    fml=getFml()
    fml=parseFml(fml)
    count=count+1
    if count>1:
        oldfml=fml

    if oldfml == fml:
        time.sleep(300)
    else:
        print('Today,'+fml)
        time.sleep(300)

My expected output was to get the post (which I did) and to print it. That works fine. The only problem is that I only want it to print the post once, and when it regularly checks up on the website it is getting printed multiple times and I do not know why.
Thanks To everyone in advance!

Answer 1

In this part of your code:

while True:
    fml=getFml()
    fml=parseFml(fml)
    count=count+1
    if count>1:
        oldfml=fml
    if oldfml == fml:
        ...

You assign oldfml=fml before you check their equality. Thus, they are always equal.

I suggest the following fix:

while True:
    if count>1:
        oldfml=fml
    count=count+1
    fml=getFml()
    fml=parseFml(fml)
    if oldfml == fml:
        ...

This way, oldfml will actually be old.