Finding URL on a page by giving a search string

Question

I am learning to use Greasemonkey on Firefox.

On a Google search results page, I am trying to find a link and click on it.

I gave the search query "cookie cutter".. Among the results, there is a result for the url merriam-webster.com which I am trying to find and click.

This is what I have written so far.

function clickURLWithText () {
        var links = $('a[href*="merriam-webster.com"]');
        var randomNum = Math.floor(Math.random()*links.length);   
        var targetLink = links.get(randomNum);                      
        triggerMouseEvent (targetLink, "click");                    
}

function triggerMouseEvent (node, eventType) {
    // code comes here
}

However it seems Google search scrambles the url like this:

<a href="/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=9&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjltNj8w9ngAhVNip4KHQdJDdQQFjAIegQIDBAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.merriam-webster.com%2Fdictionary%2Fcookie-cutter&amp;usg=AOvVaw3PbUvVz6q2bSTgondh9KCq" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','9','AOvVaw3PbUvVz6q2bSTgondh9KCq','','2ahUKEwjltNj8w9ngAhVNip4KHQdJDdQQFjAIegQIDBAB','','',event)" data-cthref="/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=9&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjltNj8w9ngAhVNip4KHQdJDdQQFjAIegQIDBAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.merriam-webster.com%2Fdictionary%2Fcookie-cutter&amp;usg=AOvVaw3PbUvVz6q2bSTgondh9KCq">
<h3 class="LC20lb">Cookie-cutter | Definition of Cookie-cutter by Merriam-Webster</h3>
<br>
<div class="TbwUpd"><cite class="iUh30">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cookie-cutter</cite></div>
</a>

In this case, how do I find merriam-webster.com and click on the href part of it?

One way to avoid Google's URL tracking could be to use `window.open(url)`, where `url` is `targetLink.attr("href")` - have you tried that? — user7290573, Feb 26 '19 at 15:03

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 26 '19 at 15:24

0

It seems jQuery is not defined on Google search results page (type $.fn.jquery in the console). Hence you can change your code to:

function clickURLWithText () {
    var links = document.querySelectorAll('a[href*="merriam-webster.com"]');
    var randomNum = Math.floor(Math.random()*links.length);   
    var targetLink = links[randomNum];;                      
    targetLink.click();                    
}

answered Feb 26 '19 at 15:24

gaetanoM

41,594
6
42
61

If OP's using Greasemonkey then it's likely that jQuery's included as part of the script. – user7290573 Feb 26 '19 at 15:34
Yes, jquery is included as part of the script. Also @gaetonoM check the anchor html I posted in the question. – CuriousDev Feb 26 '19 at 15:48
1

@CuriousDev I just installed the firefox plugin and tested my solution. It works, like it is. – gaetanoM Feb 26 '19 at 19:16
Can you log randonNum value and check if it is a number? – gaetanoM Feb 26 '19 at 20:13
@gaetanoM Yes, it is - OP even confirmed it before you replied to me. – user7290573 Feb 27 '19 at 09:21

Finding URL on a page by giving a search string

1 Answers1