Data extraction is the process of collecting or retrieving data from various sources, often including disparate, unstructured, or poorly organized formats. This involves accessing and pulling out relevant information from documents, databases, websites, APIs, or other data repositories.
The goal of data extraction is to convert raw data into a structured format that can be analyzed or integrated into other systems. It is an essential step in many workflows, such as data migration, business intelligence, and machine learning, where accurate, clean data is required for further processing and analysis.
Data extraction can be performed manually or automatically using tools like web scrapers, optical character recognition (OCR), or custom algorithms designed to handle specific data formats and sources.