Allows a terminal user to input a single URL or a list of URLs from an Excel spreadsheet or text file.

Prior to running the script, the following python packages or modules should (already) be installed on the system:

• os
• re
• pandas

Use the following terminal command to install above packages:

python -m pip install package_name

Note: if you plan to use Excel files, one must install an Excel (python) package like, openpyxl.

Import the "url-intake-module" into an existing python (web-scraping) script and then create a constructor function from the module by assigning it to a variable as noted below:

import intake_mod

example_variable = intake_mod.accept_input()

Note: to enter a file path, please copy and paste full file path into terminal. E.g., in the Windows OS (right-click) context menu, choose "Copy as path".

• Accepts .csv, .xlsx, and .txt files.
• Outputs a URL(s) entered as a "list" object.
• Ignores whitespace and duplicate URL entries while validating the syntax of each URL string entered; i.e. if link has "http://" or "https://" prepended, etc.
• If a file path is entered, the script validates the file directory.
• If three unsuccesful attempts are captured in the terminal, the script will exit without outputting a list object.

Script has been validated to work in Python 3.10