Python – Decoded Google News URL

I saved a search in https://news.google.com/ but Google doesn’t use the actual link found on its results page. Instead, you’ll find a link like this:

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiUGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBva2VybmV3cy5jb20vc3RyYXRlZ3kvd3NvcC1tYWluLWV2ZW50LXRpcHMtbmluZS1jaGFtcGlvbnMtMzEyODcuaHRt0gEA?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen 

I want to use the “real link” parsed by python. If you insert the URL above into your browser, you will see it in an instant

Opening < a href="https://www.pokernews.com/strategy/wsop-main-event-tips-nine-champions-31287.htm" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" > https://www.pokernews.com/strategy/wsop-main-event-tips-nine-champions-31287.htm

I tried something that uses the Requests module, but “no cigars”.

If not, are these Google links permanent? Can they always be used to open web pages?

Update 1:

After posting this issue, I used hacks to fix the problem. I just opened the google url again with urllib and parsed the source code to find the “real url”.

It’s nice to see TDG’s answer because it helps my program run faster. But Google is mysterious, and it doesn’t have links that work forever.

For this morning’s news feed, it bombarded news item 4:

 RESTART: C:\Users\Mike\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\rssFeed1.py 
cp1252
cp1252
>>> 1
Tommy Angelo Presents: The  Butoff
CBMiTWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBva2VybmV3cy5jb20vc3RyYXRlZ3kvdG9tbXktYW5nZWxvLXByZXNlbnRzLXRoZS1idXRvZmYtMzE4ODEuaHRt0gEA
b'\x08\x13"Mhttps://www.pokernews.com/strategy/tommy-angelo-presents-the-butoff-31881.htm\xd2\x01\x00'
Flopped Set of Nines: Get All In on Flop or Wait? 
CBMiXGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBva2VybmV3cy5jb20vc3RyYXRlZ3kvZmxvcHBlZC1zZXQtb2YtbmluZXMtZ2V0LWFsbC1pbi1vbi1mbG9wLW9yLXdhaXQtMzE4ODAuaHRt0gEA
b'\x08\x13"\\https://www.pokernews.com/strategy/flopped-set-of-nines-get-all-in-on-flop-or-wait-31880.htm\xd2\x01\x00'
What Not to Do Online: Don’t Just Stop Thinking and  Shove
CBMiZWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBva2VybmV3cy5jb20vc3RyYXRlZ3kvd2hhdC1ub3QtdG8tZG8tb25saW5lLWRvbi10LWp1c3Qtc3RvcC10aGlua2luZy1hbmQtc2hvdmUtMzE4NzAuaHRt0gEA
b'\x08\x13"ehttps://www.pokernews.com/strategy/what-not-to-do-online-don-t-just-stop-thinking-and-shove-31870.htm\xd2\x01\x00'
Hold’em with Holloway, Vol. 77: Joseph Cheong Gets Crazy with a Pair of  Ladies
CBMiV2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBva2VybmV3cy5jb20vc3RyYXRlZ3kvaG9sZC1lbS13aXRoLWhvbGxvd2F5LXZvbC03Ny1qb3NlcGgtY2hlb25nLTMxODU4Lmh0bdIBAA
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Mike\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\rssFeed1.py", line 68, in <module>
    GetGoogleNews("https://news.google.com/search?q=site%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.pokernews.com%2Fstrategy&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen", 'news')
  File "C:\Users\Mike\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\rssFeed1.py", line 34, in GetGoogleNews
    real_URL = base64.b64decode(coded)
  File "C:\Users\Mike\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\base64.py", line 87, in b64decode
    return binascii.a2b_base64(s)
binascii. Error: Incorrect padding
>>> 

Update 2:

After reading base64, I think the “incorrect padding” padding message means that the input string must be divisible by 4. So I

added “aa” in

CBMiV2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBva2VybmV3cy5jb20vc3RyYXRlZ3kvaG9sZC1lbS13aXRoLWhvbGxvd2F5LXZvbC03Ny1qb3NlcGgtY2hlb25nLTMxODU4Lmh0bdIBAA

I did not receive an error message:

>>> t = s + 'aa'
>>> len(t)/4
32.0
>>> base64.b64decode(t)
b'\x08\x13"Whttps://www.pokernews.com/strategy/hold-em-with-holloway-vol-77-joseph-cheong-31858.htm\xd2\x01\x00\x06\x9a'

Basically a base64 encoded string. If you run the following code snippet:

import base64
coded = 'CBMiUGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBva2VybmV3cy5jb20vc3RyYXRlZ3kvd3NvcC1tYWluLWV2ZW50LXRpcHMtbmluZS1jaGFtcGlvbnMtMzEyODcuaHRt0gEA'
url = base64.b64decode(coded)
print(url)

You will get the following output:

b’\x08\x13″Phttps://www.pokernews.com/strategy/wsop-main-event-tips-nine-champions-31287.htm\xd2\x01\x00′

So it looks like your URL comes with some extra content. If all extras are the same, it’s easy to filter out URLs. Otherwise – you will have to deal with each one separately.