Twittering-mode: a Twitter client for Emacs

Twittering-mode enables you to twit on Emacsen.

• web: http://twmode.sf.net
• github: http://github.com/hayamiz/twittering-mode

Features

• Activities on Twitter
  • Viewing various timelines
    • Home timeline
    • Replies
    • User's timeline
    • Public timeline
    • Favorites timeline
    • Retweets timeline
    • Merged timeline
    • Timeline without tweets satisfying a condition
  • Posting tweets
    • Direct message
    • ReTweet
    • Hash tag
    • Signature
  • Following and removing users
  • Marking tweets as favorites
• HTTP Proxy support
• Secure connection via HTTPS (cURL, GNU Wget, OpenSSL or GnuTLS is required)

Supported Emacsen

• GNU Emacs 21 (some restrictions)
• GNU Emacs 22, 23, 24

Prerequisites

• For SSL connection, one of the followings is required. SSL connection is required for the Twitter REST API v1.1.
  • cURL http://curl.haxx.se/
  • GNU Wget http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/
  • OpenSSL http://www.openssl.org/
  • GnuTLS http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/
• For parsing JSON, json.el is required. It is distributed with Emacs 23.1 and later.
• For keeping an OAuth authorized token in a local storage encrypted with master password, GnuPG ( http://www.gnupg.org/ ) is required. On Emacs 22 and earlier, either EasyPG ( http://epg.sourceforge.jp/ ) or alpaca.el( http://www.mew.org/~kazu/proj/cipher/ ) is also required.
• For displaying icons in formats that are not supported by Emacs and resizing icon images, ImageMagick ( http://www.imagemagick.org/ ) or its compatible alternative is required, e.g. GraphicsMagick ( http://www.graphicsmagick.org/ ). Note that twittering-mode on icon-mode converts retrieved icons into XPM in default. So, icon-mode without additional configuration requires, ImageMagick (or its alternative).
• For keeping retrieved icons in a local storage, gzip ( http://www.gzip.org/ ) is required.

Quick start

0. Put twittering-mode.el in a directory specified by the variable load-path. Note that the directories emacs21 and url-emacs21 must be placed at the same directory on Emacs 21. On Windows without curl or wget, the directory win-curl must be placed there. You can add a directory to the variable load-path by (add-to-list 'load-path "ADDITIONAL-DIRECTORY").

1. Execute M-x twit to run twittering-mode.

2. Open OAuth authorization page with an external browser, click Allow, and enter the PIN code in the prompt of Emacs.

   If you have introduced the configuration (setq twittering-use-master-password t), twittering-mode will ask you a master password and it will write the authorized OAuth token into ~/.twittering-mode.gpg (in default) with encryption. Once the authorized OAuth token is encrypted, you do not have to retrieve a PIN code with an external browser. The master password is only required to establish authorized connection to Twitter.

   The private information is encrypted by EasyPG or alpaca.el, which utilize GnuPG or GnuPG2. If you use GnuPG2 with Emacs 25.1 or a later version, you can input a passphrase in the Emacs minibuffer instead of external dialog by the following configuration; (setq epa-pinentry-mode 'loopback).

3. Your home timeline will appear. Basic key bindings are as follows.

   • V: Open or switch to another timeline by timeline-spec.
   • u or C-cC-s: Post a tweet.
   • RET: Post a reply to the pointed tweet or open the pointed URL with browse-url.
   • C-c RET: Post an organic retweet. This is only a tweet citing the pointed tweet and not an official/native retweet.
   • C-uC-c RET: Post an official/native retweet.
   • d: Send a direct message.
   • C-cC-w: Delete the pointed tweet.

4. Add some of the following major configurations to your init file if you like.

   • To display icons, add (setq twittering-icon-mode t). This may require ImageMagick or its compatible alternative.
   • To resize icons, add (setq twittering-convert-fix-size SIZE). The default size is 48 pixels. This requires ImageMagick or its compatible alternative.
   • To keep retrieved icons in a local storage, add (setq twittering-use-icon-storage t). This requires gzip. The icons are saved on ~/.twittering-mode-icons.gz, which can be changed by the variable twittering-icon-storage-file.
   • To display tweets in the reverse order, add (setq twittering-reverse-mode t). With it, the latest tweet is rendered the bottom of the buffer.
   • To use a HTTP proxy, add the following configuration.

     
       (setq twittering-proxy-use t)
       (setq twittering-proxy-server "PROXY-HOSTNAME")
       (setq twittering-proxy-port PROXY-PORT-NUMBER)
     

   • To change the number of tweets retrieved at once, add (setq twittering-number-of-tweets-on-retrieval NUMBER).
   • To change the interval of retrieving tweets, add (setq twittering-timer-interval SECOND). You should be careful not to exceed the limitation of number of API calls.
   • To display the number of unread tweets on the mode-line, add (twittering-enable-unread-status-notifier).
   • To display the remaining number of API calls, add (setq twittering-display-remaining t).
   • To change the format of an organic retweet, configure the variable twittering-retweet-format. For example, add (setq twittering-retweet-format '(nil _ " %u RT @%s: %t")). For details, see the docstring of the variable by M-x describe-variable.
   • To change the timelines automatically opened on starting twittering-mode, configure the variable twittering-initial-timeline-spec-string. For example, add the below configuration.

     
       (setq twittering-initial-timeline-spec-string
             '("(:home+@)"
               "(:search/twittering mode/+:search/twmode/)"))
     

     For details, see the docstring of the variable by M-x describe-variable.
   • To customize the format of tweets, configure the variable twittering-status-format. For example, add the below configuration.

     
       (setq twittering-status-format
             "%FOLD{%RT{%FACE[bold]{RT}}%i%s>>%r @%C{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S} %@{}\n%FOLD[ ]{%T%RT{\nretweeted by %s @%C{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S}}}}")
     

     For details, see the docstring of the variable by M-x describe-variable.
   • To inherit mentions and hashtags on editing a reply, add (setq twittering-edit-skeleton 'inherit-any). For details, see the docstring of the variable by M-x describe-variable.

   Enjoy!

Usage

• Move the cursor.
  • 0: Go to the beginning of the line.
  • ^: Go to the beginning of the text on the line.
  • $: Go to the end of the line.
  • G: Go to the bottom tweet.
  • H: Go to the top tweet.
  • h: Move the cursor left.
  • j: Go to the next tweet.
  • k: Go to the previous tweet.
  • l: Move the cursor right.
  • n: Go to the next tweet by the author of the pointed tweet.
  • p: Go to the previous tweet by the author of the pointed tweet.
  • TAB: Go to the next thing (link, user name, URL, etc.).
  • M-TAB or <backtab>: Go to the previous thing (link, user name, URL, etc.).
  • C-v or SPC: Scroll the buffer upward.
  • M-v or <backspace>: Scroll the buffer downward.
• Switch a timeline.
  • L: Open a list timeline interactively.
  • V: Open a timeline by timeline-spec.
  • b: Switch to the previous timeline.
  • f: Switch to the next timeline.
  • C-cC-d: Open the direct messages timeline. This is equivalent to V with :direct_messages.
  • v: Open the home timeline of the pointed user.
  • C-cC-f: Open the friend timeline. This is equivalent to V with :friends.
  • C-cC-q: Open a search timeline. This is equivalent to V with :search/QUERY/.
  • C-cC-r: Open the replies timeline. This is equivalent to V with :replies.
  • C-cC-u: Open the current user timeline. This is equivalent to V with USERNAME, where USERNAME is your screen-name.
  • q: Close the current buffer.
• Update/clear the timeline.
  • g: Update the current timeline.
  • C-cC-e: Erase tweets of the current buffer from memory.
• Display replied tweets.
  • r: Display replied tweets or hide them.
  • R: Display replied tweets, retrieve the replied tweet or hide them.
• Post a tweet.
  • u or C-cC-s: Post a tweet.
  • RET: Post a reply to the pointed tweet or open the pointed URL with browse-url.
  • C-c RET: Post an organic retweet. This is only a tweet citing the pointed tweet and not an official/native retweet.
  • C-uC-c RET: Post an official/native retweet.
  • d: Send a direct message.
  • C-cC-l: Post a joke message.
• Delete a tweet.
  • C-cC-w: Delete the pointed tweet.
• View more info.
  • U: Push the URL of the pointed link or tweet onto the kill ring.
  • C-cC-v: Open the profile of the pointed user with browse-url.
  • <mouse-1>: Open the pointed URL with browse-url.
• Change the mode of twittering-mode.
  • a: Toggle the state of the buffer between active/inactive. Twittering-mode does not update an inactive buffer.
  • i: Toggle the state of the buffer between with or without icon images.
  • t or C-cC-p: Toggle between with or without a proxy server.
  • C-cC-t: Set the current hashtag.

Timeline spec

By pressing V (twittering-visit-timeline) on twittering-mode, you can specify a timeline to be opened by timeline spec. A timeline spec can be used anywhere you have to specify a timeline.

The valid timeline specs follows:

• Basic timeline

  • :home : The home timeline.
  • :mentions : Tweets mentioning you.
  • :public : The public timeline.
  • USER : Tweets posted by USER.
  • USER/LISTNAME : The list timeline owned by USER and named LISTNAME.

• Direct message

  • :direct_message_events : Direct message events.
  • :direct_messages : Direct messages sent to you.
  • :direct_messages_sent : Direct messages that you sent.

• Favorite

  • :favorites : Tweets that you marked as a favorite.
  • :favorites/USER : Tweets that USER marked as a favorite.

• Hashtag

  • #HASHTAG : Tweets including #HASHTAG.

• Retweet

  • :retweeted_by_me : Retweets that you posted.
  • :retweeted_by_user/USER : Retweets posted by USER.
  • :retweeted_to_me : Retweets sent to your home timeline.
  • :retweeted_to_user/USER : Retweets sent to USER's home timeline.
  • :retweets_of_me : Your tweets that have been retweeted by others.

• Single

  • :single/ID : A tweet specified by ID.

• Search

  • :search/QUERY-STRING/ : Tweets matching QUERY-STRING. In QUERY-STRING, / (slash) and \ (backslash) must be escaped as \/ or \\, respectively.

• Alias
  You can define aliases for timeline specs. By defining a short alias as a long timeline spec, you can refer it more easily. There are two types of alias, simple and functional as below. Both types are defined in the association list bound to the variable twittering-timeline-spec-alias.

  • $ALIAS-NAME The timeline spec bound to ALIAS-NAME in twittering-timeline-spec-alias.
  • $ALIAS-NAME(ARGUMENT) The timeline spec generated by calling the function, which is bound to ALIAS-NAME in twittering-timeline-spec-alias, with the argument ARGUMENT. The function can be specified as a symbol or a lambda expression. Functions must receive one string argument.

  As an example, consider the following definition of twittering-timeline-spec-alias.

  
    (setq twittering-timeline-spec-alias
          '(("FRIENDS" . "my-account/friends-list")
            ("related-to" .
             (lambda (username)
               (if username
                   (format ":search/to:%s OR from:%s OR @%s/"
                           username username username)
                 ":home")))
            ("related-to-twitter" . "$related-to(twitter)")))
  

  With this configuration, you can use the below aliases.

  • $FRIENDS is equivalent to my-account/friends-list.
  • $related-to is equivalent to :home.
  • $related-to(twitterapi) is equivalent to :search/to:twitterapi OR from:twitterapi OR @twitterapi/.
  • $related-to-twitter is equivalent to :search/to:twitter OR from:twitter OR @twitter/.

  You can use an alias on definition of other aliases, but an alias including a circular-reference is forbidden.

• Composite timeline spec

  • (SPEC1+SPEC2) : The timeline generated by merging two timelines, specified by SPEC1 and SPEC2.
  • :exclude-if/FUNC/SPEC : The timeline equals SPEC, except that it does not include tweets that the function FUNC returns non-nil for. FUNC must be a function that receives an alist corresponding to a tweet as an argument. A lambda expression and a symbol bound to a function are valid as FUNC. But a symbol name must not include two special characters, "(" or "/". You can specify any timeline spec for SPEC. For example, you can ignore tweets including "WORD" from the home timeline by the following timeline spec; :exclude-if/(lambda (tweet) (string-match "WORD" (cdr (assq 'text tweet))))/:home.
  • :exclude-re/REGEXP/SPEC : The timeline equals SPEC, except that it does not include tweets that match the regular expression REGEXP. In REGEXP, a slash must be escaped with a backslash. For example, tweets including a slash are excluded from the timeline corresponding to the Emacs string literal ":exclude-re/\\//:home".

Authors & Contributors

• Y. Hayamizu
• naoya_t
• Tsuyoshi CHO
• Alberto Garcia
• Satoshi Yatagawa
• 高山智也
• Tadashi MATSUO (cvmat)
• 青田(naota)
• Jaemok Jeong(jmjeong)
• Thomas Danckaert
• IMAI Toshiyuki

See also

• http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs-en/TwitteringMode