1. A computer implemented method for extracting attribute values from formatted data, the method comprising the steps of: maintaining information concerning a plurality of attributes, wherein the information concerning each attribute comprises at least one matching name and at least one matching value for that attribute; parsing formatted data into a plurality of elements comprising a canonical representation of the data, independent of the data format; scanning the elements of the plurality for occurrences of attribute values; and inferring occurrence of specific attributes in the formatted data and assigning most appropriate occurring values to the specific attributes, based upon value occurrence distribution and frequency within the data, and maintained information concerning attributes.