README.md

explainxkcdbot

A Reddit bot that posts explanation of the xkcd links posted in the comments. The explanation is extracted from the explain xkcd wiki (http://explainxkcd.com)

Requirements

1. Python 3
2. pip for Python 3 (recommended)
   • For installation see here and here.
3. PRAW
   • Install using pip3 by running pip3 install praw or sudo -H pip3 install praw if it requires escalated privileges.
4. Python Requests
   • Install using pip3 by running pip3 install requests or sudo -H pip3 install requests if it requires escalated privileges.
5. Beautiful Soup 4
   • Install using pip3 by running pip3 install beautifulsoup4 or sudo -H pip3 install beautifulsoup4 if it requires escalated privileges.

Obtaining Reddit API access credentials

1. Create a Reddit account, and while logged in, navigate to preferences > apps
2. Click on the are you a developer? create an app... button
3. Fill in the details-
   • name: Name of your bot/script
   • Select the option 'script'
   • decription: Put in a description of your bot/script
   • redirect uri: http://localhost:8080
4. Click create app
5. You will be given a client_id and a client_secret. Keep them confidential.

How to run it

1. Clone or download (and extract) this repository and navigate to it's directory
2. Create a file named praw.ini with it's contents as:

   [explainbot]
   username: reddit username
   password: reddit password
   client_id: client_id that you got
   client_secret: client_secret that you got
   

3. Create a blank text file named commented.txt inside the project directory
4. In explainxkcdbot.py, replace the value of path with the location of your commented.txt.
5. At a minimum, three files, namely explainxkcdbot.py, praw.ini and commented.txt are required for the bot to run.
6. Type python3 explainxkcdbot.py in the Terminal to run the bot.
7. If the Reddit API returns an error due to too many requests, adjust val in the instances of time.sleep(val) in explainxkcdbot.py