PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper) is a Python module that provides a simple access to Reddit’s API. PRAW is easy to use and follows all of Reddit’s API rules.
The documentation regarding PRAW is located here.
Prerequisites:
- Basic Python Programming Skills
- Basic Reddit Knowledge : Reddit is a network of communities based on people’s interests. Each of these communities is called a subreddit. Users can subscribe to multiple subreddits to post, comment and interact with them.
- A Reddit Account
To install PRAW, we run the following pip script on the terminal / command prompt.
pip install praw
After installing PRAW, we need to import it:
Python3
import praw |
After importing PRAW, we need to instantiate it. There are 2 types of PRAW instances:
- Read-only Instance: With read-only instance we can only retrieve public information from Reddit. Information like top 10 posts from a certain subreddit. We can’t post material from this.
- Authorized Instance: With authorized instance we can do whatever a normal reddit account can do. Actions like comment, post, repost, upvote etc. can be performed.
Creating a read-only instance:
Python3
reddit = praw.Reddit(client_id ='my client id', client_secret ='my client secret', user_agent ='my user agent')# to verify whether the instance is read-only instance or notprint(reddit.read_only) |
Output:
True
Creating an authorized instance:
Python3
reddit = praw.Reddit(client_id ='my client id', client_secret ='my client secret', user_agent ='my user agent', username ='my username', password ='my password')# to verify whether the instance is authorized instance or notprint(reddit.read_only) |
Output:
False
To switch back to read-only mode:
Python3
reddit.read_only = True |
Now let us see some of the operations we can achieve using PRAW:
- Access a Subreddit: In reddit there are multiple communities known as subreddits. We can obtain a subreddit instance using the method subreddit.
Python3
subreddit = reddit.subreddit('GRE')# display the subreddit nameprint(subreddit.display_name)# display the subreddit title print(subreddit.title) # display the subreddit description print(subreddit.description) |
- Output :
GRE GRE #/r/GRE This subreddit is for discussion of the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). If you're studying for the GRE, or can help people who are studying for the GRE, you're in the right place! ----- #Rules - You must read and follow the rules! https://www.reddit.com/r/gre/about/rules -----
- Access a Submission: Within a subreddit there are multiple post submissions. We can iterate through the submissions in the submission instance. Reddit provides us multiple ways to sort submissions:
- rising
- new
- hot
- gilded
- controversial
- top
- Access a Redditor: In Reddit, the user is called a Redditor. We can obtain the redditor instance using the method redditor. In the method we pass the username of the redditor.
Python3
# let the redditor be "AutoModerator"redditor = reddit.redditor('AutoModerator')# display AutoModerator's karmaprint(redditor.link_karma) |
- Output:
6554
