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fdbae010 | 1 | Python Twitter Tools |
a65893e4 | 2 | ==================== |
fdbae010 | 3 | |
bcd1bc9c | 4 | [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/sixohsix/twitter.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/sixohsix/twitter) [![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/sixohsix/twitter/badge.png?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/r/sixohsix/twitter?branch=master) |
9ae71d46 | 5 | |
f1a8ed67 | 6 | The Minimalist Twitter API for Python is a Python API for Twitter, |
7 | everyone's favorite Web 2.0 Facebook-style status updater for people | |
8 | on the go. | |
fdbae010 | 9 | |
f1a8ed67 | 10 | Also included is a twitter command-line tool for getting your friends' |
11 | tweets and setting your own tweet from the safety and security of your | |
5b8b1ead | 12 | favorite shell and an IRC bot that can announce Twitter updates to an |
f1a8ed67 | 13 | IRC channel. |
fdbae010 | 14 | |
5f47b302 | 15 | For more information, after installing the `twitter` package: |
fdbae010 | 16 | |
17 | * import the `twitter` package and run help() on it | |
18 | * run `twitter -h` for command-line tool help | |
a65893e4 | 19 | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
20 | |
21 | twitter - The Command-Line Tool | |
22 | ------------------------------- | |
a65893e4 | 23 | |
30913a4e | 24 | The command-line tool lets you do some awesome things: |
a65893e4 | 25 | |
30913a4e | 26 | * view your tweets, recent replies, and tweets in lists |
a65893e4 MV |
27 | * view the public timeline |
28 | * follow and unfollow (leave) friends | |
29 | * various output formats for tweet information | |
51e0b8f1 | 30 | |
a65893e4 MV |
31 | The bottom line: type `twitter`, receive tweets. |
32 | ||
33 | ||
34 | ||
51e0b8f1 MV |
35 | twitterbot - The IRC Bot |
36 | ------------------------ | |
a65893e4 MV |
37 | |
38 | The IRC bot is associated with a twitter account (either your own account or an | |
39 | account you create for the bot). The bot announces all tweets from friends | |
40 | it is following. It can be made to follow or leave friends through IRC /msg | |
41 | commands. | |
42 | ||
5f47b302 | 43 | |
5f47b302 | 44 | twitter-log |
51e0b8f1 | 45 | ----------- |
5f47b302 MV |
46 | |
47 | `twitter-log` is a simple command-line tool that dumps all public | |
48 | tweets from a given user in a simple text format. It is useful to get | |
49 | a complete offsite backup of all your tweets. Run `twitter-log` and | |
50 | read the instructions. | |
51 | ||
30913a4e MV |
52 | twitter-archiver and twitter-follow |
53 | ----------------------------------- | |
54 | ||
55 | twitter-archiver will log all the tweets posted by any user since they | |
56 | started posting. twitter-follow will print a list of all of all the | |
57 | followers of a user (or all the users that user follows). | |
58 | ||
5f47b302 | 59 | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
60 | Programming with the Twitter api classes |
61 | ======================================== | |
62 | ||
51e0b8f1 MV |
63 | The Twitter and TwitterStream classes are the key to building your own |
64 | Twitter-enabled applications. | |
65 | ||
66 | ||
67 | The Twitter class | |
68 | ----------------- | |
69 | ||
70 | The minimalist yet fully featured Twitter API class. | |
71 | ||
72 | Get RESTful data by accessing members of this class. The result | |
73 | is decoded python objects (lists and dicts). | |
74 | ||
75 | The Twitter API is documented at: | |
76 | ||
5d5d68cc | 77 | **[http://dev.twitter.com/doc](http://dev.twitter.com/doc)** |
51e0b8f1 | 78 | |
d4f3123e | 79 | Examples: |
bcbd4e2b | 80 | ```python |
814d84f5 | 81 | from twitter import * |
51e0b8f1 | 82 | |
814d84f5 | 83 | t = Twitter( |
d4f3123e | 84 | auth=OAuth(token, token_key, con_secret, con_secret_key))) |
51e0b8f1 | 85 | |
814d84f5 MG |
86 | # Get your "home" timeline |
87 | t.statuses.home_timeline() | |
51e0b8f1 | 88 | |
814d84f5 | 89 | # Get a particular friend's timeline |
aaf199d3 | 90 | t.statuses.user_timeline(screen_name="billybob") |
51e0b8f1 | 91 | |
ae2bf888 HN |
92 | # to pass in GET/POST parameters, such as `count` |
93 | t.statuses.home_timeline(count=5) | |
94 | ||
95 | # to pass in the GET/POST parameter `id` you need to use `_id` | |
96 | t.statuses.oembed(_id=1234567890) | |
97 | ||
814d84f5 MG |
98 | # Update your status |
99 | t.statuses.update( | |
100 | status="Using @sixohsix's sweet Python Twitter Tools.") | |
51e0b8f1 | 101 | |
814d84f5 MG |
102 | # Send a direct message |
103 | t.direct_messages.new( | |
104 | user="billybob", | |
105 | text="I think yer swell!") | |
d09c0dd3 | 106 | |
814d84f5 MG |
107 | # Get the members of tamtar's list "Things That Are Rad" |
108 | t._("tamtar")._("things-that-are-rad").members() | |
51e0b8f1 | 109 | |
814d84f5 MG |
110 | # Note how the magic `_` method can be used to insert data |
111 | # into the middle of a call. You can also use replacement: | |
112 | t.user.list.members(user="tamtar", list="things-that-are-rad") | |
a5aab114 | 113 | |
814d84f5 | 114 | # An *optional* `_timeout` parameter can also be used for API |
d4f3123e MV |
115 | # calls which take much more time than normal or twitter stops |
116 | # responding for some reason: | |
117 | t.users.lookup( | |
118 | screen_name=','.join(A_LIST_OF_100_SCREEN_NAMES), _timeout=1) | |
51e0b8f1 | 119 | |
ae2bf888 HN |
120 | # Overriding Method: GET/POST |
121 | # you should not need to use this method as this library properly | |
122 | # detects whether GET or POST should be used, Nevertheless | |
123 | # to force a particular method, use `_method` | |
124 | t.statuses.oembed(_id=1234567890, _method='GET') | |
5a412b39 R |
125 | |
126 | # Send a tweet with an image included (or set your banner or logo similarily) | |
d4f3123e | 127 | # by just reading your image from the web or a file in a string: |
5a412b39 R |
128 | with open("example.png", "rb") as imagefile: |
129 | params = {"media[]": imagefile.read(), "status": "PTT"} | |
130 | t.statuses.update_with_media(**params) | |
d4f3123e MV |
131 | |
132 | # Or by sending a base64 encoded image: | |
5a412b39 R |
133 | params = {"media[]": base64_image, "status": "PTT", "_base64": True} |
134 | t.statuses.update_with_media(**params) | |
ae2bf888 | 135 | ``` |
51e0b8f1 | 136 | |
d4f3123e MV |
137 | Searching Twitter: |
138 | ```python | |
814d84f5 MG |
139 | # Search for the latest tweets about #pycon |
140 | t.search.tweets(q="#pycon") | |
141 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 | 142 | |
16c4e7d4 BB |
143 | |
144 | Retrying after reaching the API rate limit | |
145 | ------------------------------------------ | |
146 | ||
147 | Simply create the `Twitter` instance with the argument `retry=True`, then the | |
148 | HTTP error codes 429, 502, 503 and 504 will cause a retry of the last request. | |
73a242d6 | 149 | If retry is an integer, it defines the number of retries attempted. |
16c4e7d4 BB |
150 | |
151 | ||
51e0b8f1 MV |
152 | Using the data returned |
153 | ----------------------- | |
154 | ||
155 | Twitter API calls return decoded JSON. This is converted into | |
d4f3123e | 156 | a bunch of Python lists, dicts, ints, and strings. For example: |
51e0b8f1 | 157 | |
814d84f5 MG |
158 | ```python |
159 | x = twitter.statuses.home_timeline() | |
51e0b8f1 | 160 | |
814d84f5 MG |
161 | # The first 'tweet' in the timeline |
162 | x[0] | |
51e0b8f1 | 163 | |
814d84f5 MG |
164 | # The screen name of the user who wrote the first 'tweet' |
165 | x[0]['user']['screen_name'] | |
166 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
167 | |
168 | Getting raw XML data | |
169 | -------------------- | |
170 | ||
171 | If you prefer to get your Twitter data in XML format, pass | |
d4f3123e | 172 | format="xml" to the Twitter object when you instantiate it: |
51e0b8f1 | 173 | |
814d84f5 MG |
174 | ```python |
175 | twitter = Twitter(format="xml") | |
176 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
177 | |
178 | The output will not be parsed in any way. It will be a raw string | |
179 | of XML. | |
180 | ||
181 | ||
182 | The TwitterStream class | |
183 | ----------------------- | |
184 | ||
d4f3123e MV |
185 | The TwitterStream object is an interface to the Twitter Stream |
186 | API. This can be used pretty much the same as the Twitter class | |
187 | except the result of calling a method will be an iterator that | |
188 | yields objects decoded from the stream. For example:: | |
51e0b8f1 | 189 | |
814d84f5 | 190 | ```python |
d4f3123e | 191 | twitter_stream = TwitterStream(auth=OAuth(...)) |
814d84f5 | 192 | iterator = twitter_stream.statuses.sample() |
51e0b8f1 | 193 | |
814d84f5 | 194 | for tweet in iterator: |
d4f3123e | 195 | ...do something with this tweet... |
814d84f5 | 196 | ``` |
51e0b8f1 | 197 | |
84e6e1e4 | 198 | Per default the ``TwitterStream`` object uses |
199 | [public streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/public). | |
200 | If you want to use one of the other | |
201 | [streaming APIs](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis), specify the URL | |
202 | manually: | |
203 | ||
204 | - [Public streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/public): stream.twitter.com | |
205 | - [User streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/user): userstream.twitter.com | |
206 | - [Site streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/site): sitestream.twitter.com | |
207 | ||
208 | Note that you require the proper | |
209 | [permissions](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/application-permission-model) to | |
210 | access these streams. E.g. for direct messages your | |
211 | [application](https://dev.twitter.com/apps) needs the "Read, Write & Direct | |
212 | Messages" permission. | |
213 | ||
9ae71d46 | 214 | The following example demonstrates how to retrieve all new direct messages |
84e6e1e4 | 215 | from the user stream: |
216 | ||
217 | ```python | |
218 | auth = OAuth( | |
219 | consumer_key='[your consumer key]', | |
220 | consumer_secret='[your consumer secret]', | |
221 | token='[your token]', | |
222 | token_secret='[your token secret]' | |
223 | ) | |
224 | twitter_userstream = TwitterStream(auth=auth, domain='userstream.twitter.com') | |
225 | for msg in twitter_userstream.user(): | |
226 | if 'direct_message' in msg: | |
227 | print msg['direct_message']['text'] | |
228 | ``` | |
229 | ||
d4f3123e MV |
230 | The iterator will yield until the TCP connection breaks. When the |
231 | connection breaks, the iterator yields `{'hangup': True}`, and | |
232 | raises `StopIteration` if iterated again. | |
233 | ||
234 | Similarly, if the stream does not produce heartbeats for more than | |
235 | 90 seconds, the iterator yields `{'hangup': True, | |
236 | 'heartbeat_timeout': True}`, and raises `StopIteration` if | |
237 | iterated again. | |
238 | ||
239 | The `timeout` parameter controls the maximum time between | |
240 | yields. If it is nonzero, then the iterator will yield either | |
241 | stream data or `{'timeout': True}` within the timeout period. This | |
242 | is useful if you want your program to do other stuff in between | |
243 | waiting for tweets. | |
244 | ||
245 | The `block` parameter sets the stream to be fully non-blocking. In | |
246 | this mode, the iterator always yields immediately. It returns | |
247 | stream data, or `None`. Note that `timeout` supercedes this | |
925431e9 O |
248 | argument, so it should also be set `None` to use this mode, |
249 | and non-blocking can potentially lead to 100% CPU usage. | |
d4f3123e | 250 | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
251 | Twitter Response Objects |
252 | ------------------------ | |
253 | ||
d4f3123e | 254 | Response from a twitter request. Behaves like a list or a string |
51e0b8f1 MV |
255 | (depending on requested format) but it has a few other interesting |
256 | attributes. | |
257 | ||
258 | `headers` gives you access to the response headers as an | |
259 | httplib.HTTPHeaders instance. You can do | |
d4f3123e | 260 | `response.headers.get('h')` to retrieve a header. |
51e0b8f1 MV |
261 | |
262 | Authentication | |
263 | -------------- | |
264 | ||
265 | You can authenticate with Twitter in three ways: NoAuth, OAuth, or | |
d4f3123e | 266 | OAuth2 (app-only). Get help() on these classes to learn how to use them. |
51e0b8f1 | 267 | |
d4f3123e | 268 | OAuth and OAuth2 are probably the most useful. |
51e0b8f1 MV |
269 | |
270 | ||
271 | Working with OAuth | |
272 | ------------------ | |
273 | ||
274 | Visit the Twitter developer page and create a new application: | |
275 | ||
5d5d68cc | 276 | **[https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new](https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new)** |
51e0b8f1 MV |
277 | |
278 | This will get you a CONSUMER_KEY and CONSUMER_SECRET. | |
279 | ||
280 | When users run your application they have to authenticate your app | |
d4f3123e | 281 | with their Twitter account. A few HTTP calls to twitter are required |
51e0b8f1 MV |
282 | to do this. Please see the twitter.oauth_dance module to see how this |
283 | is done. If you are making a command-line app, you can use the | |
284 | oauth_dance() function directly. | |
285 | ||
d4f3123e | 286 | Performing the "oauth dance" gets you an ouath token and oauth secret |
51e0b8f1 MV |
287 | that authenticate the user with Twitter. You should save these for |
288 | later so that the user doesn't have to do the oauth dance again. | |
289 | ||
290 | read_token_file and write_token_file are utility methods to read and | |
291 | write OAuth token and secret key values. The values are stored as | |
292 | strings in the file. Not terribly exciting. | |
293 | ||
294 | Finally, you can use the OAuth authenticator to connect to Twitter. In | |
d4f3123e | 295 | code it all goes like this: |
51e0b8f1 | 296 | |
814d84f5 MG |
297 | ```python |
298 | from twitter import * | |
51e0b8f1 | 299 | |
814d84f5 MG |
300 | MY_TWITTER_CREDS = os.path.expanduser('~/.my_app_credentials') |
301 | if not os.path.exists(MY_TWITTER_CREDS): | |
302 | oauth_dance("My App Name", CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, | |
303 | MY_TWITTER_CREDS) | |
51e0b8f1 | 304 | |
814d84f5 | 305 | oauth_token, oauth_secret = read_token_file(MY_TWITTER_CREDS) |
51e0b8f1 | 306 | |
814d84f5 | 307 | twitter = Twitter(auth=OAuth( |
d4f3123e | 308 | oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET)) |
51e0b8f1 | 309 | |
814d84f5 | 310 | # Now work with Twitter |
04e76c4d | 311 | twitter.statuses.update(status='Hello, world!') |
814d84f5 | 312 | ``` |
51e0b8f1 | 313 | |
d4f3123e MV |
314 | Working with OAuth2 |
315 | ------------------- | |
316 | ||
317 | Twitter only supports the application-only flow of OAuth2 for certain | |
318 | API endpoints. This OAuth2 authenticator only supports the application-only | |
319 | flow right now. | |
320 | ||
321 | To authenticate with OAuth2, visit the Twitter developer page and create a new | |
322 | application: | |
323 | ||
324 | **[https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new](https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new)** | |
325 | ||
326 | This will get you a CONSUMER_KEY and CONSUMER_SECRET. | |
327 | ||
328 | Exchange your CONSUMER_KEY and CONSUMER_SECRET for a bearer token using the | |
329 | oauth2_dance function. | |
330 | ||
331 | Finally, you can use the OAuth2 authenticator and your bearer token to connect | |
332 | to Twitter. In code it goes like this:: | |
333 | ||
334 | ```python | |
335 | twitter = Twitter(auth=OAuth2(bearer_token=BEARER_TOKEN)) | |
336 | ||
337 | # Now work with Twitter | |
338 | twitter.search.tweets(q='keyword') | |
339 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
340 | |
341 | License | |
342 | ======= | |
343 | ||
8be9a740 | 344 | Python Twitter Tools are released under an MIT License. |