Reddit::Client - A Perl wrapper for the Reddit API.
Reddit::Client handles Oauth session management and HTTP communication with Reddit's external API. For more information about the Reddit API, see https://github.com/reddit/reddit/wiki/API.
use Reddit::Client; my $client_id = "DFhtrhBgfhhRTd"; my $secret = "KrDNsbeffdbILOdgbgSvSBsbfFs"; # Create a Reddit::Client object and authorize in one step: "script" app my $reddit = new Reddit::Client( user_agent => "Test script 1.0 by /u/myusername", client_id => $client_id, secret => $secret, username => "reddit_username", password => "reddit_password", ); # Create a Reddit::Client object and authorize in one step: "web" app my $reddit = new Reddit::Client( user_agent => "Test script 1.0 by /u/myusername", client_id => $client_id, secret => $secret, refresh_token => "refresh_token", ); # Check your inbox my $me = $reddit->me(); print "You've got mail!" if $me->{has_mail}; # Submit a link $reddit->submit_link( subreddit => "test", title => "Change is bad, use Perl", url => "http://www.perl.org", ); # Get posts from a subreddit or multi my $posts = $reddit->get_links(subreddit=>'test', limit=>5); foreach my $post (@$posts) { print $post->{is_self} ? $post->{selftext} : $post->{url}; print $post->get_web_url(); if ($post->{title} =~ /some phrase/) { $post->reply("hi, I'm a bot"); } }
Reddit::Client uses Oauth to communicate with Reddit. To get Oauth keys, visit your apps page on Reddit, located at https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps, and create an app.
Reddit::Client supports "script" and "web" type apps, but most users will want a "script"-type app. This is an app intended for personal use that uses a username and password to authenticate. The description and about url fields can be empty, and the redirect URI can be any valid address (script apps don't use them). Once created, you can give other users permission to run it by adding them in the "add developer" field. (They each use their own username and password to authenticate.)
Use the app's client id and secret along with your username and password to create a new Reddit::Client object.
As of v1.20, Reddit::Client also supports "web" apps. These are apps that can take actions on behalf of any user that grants them permission. (If you have ever seen a permission screen for a Reddit app that says "SomeRedditApp wants your permission to...", that's a web type app.) While they are fully supported, there is not yet a setup guide, so getting one running is left as an exercise for the reader. You will need a web server (obviously), and you will need to generate a refresh token, which is a unique string that your app will use to authenticate instead of a username and password. You will probably want to store refresh tokens locally so that your app doesn't have to get a new one every time it runs.
Documentation for the "web" app flow can be found at https://github.com/reddit-archive/reddit/wiki/OAuth2.
A thing's complete ID with prefix. Example: t1_3npkj4. Whe Reddit returns data, the fullname is usually found in the "name" field. The type of thing can be determined by the prefix; for example, "t1" for comments and "t3" for links.
A thing's short ID without prefix. Example: 3npkj4. Seen in your address bar when viewing, for example, a post or comment.
Methods that return lists of things can accept several optional parameters:
limit: Integer. How many things to return. Default 25, maximum 100. If limit is present but false, this is interpreted as "no limit" and the maximum is returned.
limit
before: Fullname. Return results that occur before fullname in the listing.
before
after: Fullname. Return results that occur after fullname in the listing.
after
count: Integer. Appears to be used by Reddit to number listings after the first page. Listings returned by the API are not numbered, so it does not seem to have a use in the API.
count
only: The string "links" or "comments". Return only links or only comments. Only relevant to listings that could contain both.
only
show_all: Boolean. Return items that would have been omitted, for example posts you have hidden, or have reported, or are hidden from you because you are using the option to hide posts after you've upvoted/downvoted them. Default false.
show_all
Note that 'before' and 'after' mean before and after in the listing, not necessarily in time. It's best to think of Reddit as a database where new lines are constantly inserted at the top, because that's basically what it is.
All functions that take the parameter 'subreddit' also accept the alias 'sub'.
This guide indicates optional arguments with brackets ([]), a convention we borrowed from from PHP's online manual. This creates some slight overlap with Perl's brackets, which are used to indicate an anonymous array reference, however which of the two is intended should be clear from the context.
approve ( $fullname )
Approve a comment or post (moderator action).
ban ( username => $username, subreddit => $subreddit, [ duration => $duration, ] [ ban_message => $message, ] [ reason => $reason, ] [ note => $note ] )
Ban a user from a subreddit. username and subreddit are required. Optional arguments include:
username
subreddit
duration: Duration in days. Range 1-999. If false or not provided, the ban is indefinite.
duration
ban_message: The message sent to the banned user. (Markdown is allowed.)
ban_message
reason: A short ban reason (100 characters max). On the website ban page, this matches the ban reason you would select from the dropdown menu. It is arbitrary: it doesn't have to match up with the reasons from the menu and can be blank. Only visible to moderators.
reason
note: An optional note, 300 characters max. Only visible to moderators.
note
A ban will overwrite any existing ban for that user. For example, to change the duration, you can call ban() again with a new duration.
ban()
comment ( $fullname, $text )
Make a comment under $fullname, which must be either a post or a comment. Return the fullname of the new comment.
$fullname
This function is an alias for submit_comment, and is equivalent to
submit_comment
submit_comment ( parent_id => $fullname, text => $text )
create_multi ( name => $multi_name, [ description => $description, ] [ visibility => $visibility, ] [ subreddits => [ subreddits ], ] [ icon_name => $icon_name, ] [ key_color => $hex_code, ] [ weighting_scheme => $weighting_scheme, ] )
Create a multireddit. The only required argument is the name. A multi can also be created with edit_multi, the only difference being that create_multi will fail with a HTTP 409 error if a multi with that name already exists.
edit_multi
create_multi
Returns a hash of information about the newly created multireddit.
name The name of the multireddit. Maximum 50 characters. Only letters, numbers and underscores are allowed (and underscores cannot be the first character). Required.
name
description Description of the multi. This can contain markdown.
description
visibility One of 'private', 'public', or 'hidden'. Default 'private'.
visibility
subreddits or subs: An array reference.
subreddits
subs
The remaining arguments don't currently do anything. It seems like at least some of them are intended for future mobile updates.
icon_name: If provided, must be one of the following values: 'art and design', 'ask', 'books', 'business', 'cars', 'comics', 'cute animals', 'diy', 'entertainment', 'food and drink', 'funny', 'games', 'grooming', 'health', 'life advice', 'military', 'models pinup', 'music', 'news', 'philosophy', 'pictures and gifs', 'science', 'shopping', 'sports', 'style', 'tech', 'travel', 'unusual stories', 'video', '', 'None'.
icon_name
weighting_scheme: If provided, must be either 'classic' or 'fresh'.
weighting_scheme
key_color: A 6-character hex code. Defaults to CEE3F8.
key_color
delete ( $fullname )
Delete a post or comment.
delete_multi ( $multireddit_name )
Delete a multireddit.
edit ( $fullname, $text )
Edit a text post or comment. Unlike on the website, $text can be an empty string, although to prevent accidental wipeouts it must be defined.
$text
Edit a multireddit. Will create a new multireddit if one with that name doesn't exist. The arguments are identical to [create_multi](#create_multi).
edit_wiki ( subreddit => $subreddit, page => $page, content => $content, [ previous => $previous_version_id, ] [ reason => $edit_reason, ] )
page is the page being edited.
page
content is the new page content. Can be empty but must be defined. Maximum 524,288 characters.
content
reason is the edit reason. Max 256 characters, will be truncated if longer. Optional.
previous is the ID of the intended previous version of the page; if provided, that is the version the page will be rolled back to in a rollback. However, there's no way to find out what this should be from the Reddit website, or currently from Reddit::Client either. Use it only if you know what you're doing.
previous
find_subreddits ( q => $query, [ sort => 'relevance', ] )
Returns a list of Subreddit objects matching the search string $query. Optionally sort them by sort, which can be "relevance" or "activity".
$query
sort
get_collapsed_comments ( link_id => $link_id, children => $children, [ limit_children => 0, ] [ sort => $sort, ] )
Expand a list of collapsed comments found in a MoreComments object. Return a flat list of Comment objects.
link_id is the ID of the link the comments are under.
link_id
children is a reference to an array containing the comment IDs.
children
If limit_children is true, return only the requested comments, not replies to them. Otherwise return as many replies as possible (possibly resulting in more MoreComments objects down the line).
limit_children
sort is one of 'confidence', 'top', 'new', 'controversial', 'old', 'random', 'qa', 'live'. Default seems to be 'confidence'.
get_comment ( $id_or_fullname, [ include_children => 0 ] )
Returns a Comment object for $id_or_fullname. Note that by default, this only includes the comment itself and not replies. This is by Reddit's design; there isn't a way to return a comment and its replies in one request, using only the comment's id.
$id_or_fullname
You can get its replies at the same time by setting include_children to a true value, which will cause Reddit::Client to make a second request before getting back to you.
include_children
get_comments ( subreddit => $subreddit, link_id => $link_id_or_fullname )
or
get_comments ( subreddit => $subreddit, link_id => $link_id_or_fullname, comment_id => $comment_id_or_fullname )
get_comments ( permalink => $permalink )
get_comments ( url => $url )
Get the comment tree for the selected subreddit/link\_id, subreddit/link\_id/comment_id, permalink, or URL. This will be a mix of Comment and MoreComments objects, which are placeholders for collapsed comments. This is analogous to the "show more comments" links on the website.
If you already have a Link or Comment object, it's best to call its own get_comments method, which takes no arguments and supplies all of the necessary information for you. If you do decide to use this version:
get_comments
permalink is the value found in the permalink field of a Link or Comment. It is the URL minus the protocol and hostname, i.e. "/r/subreddit/comments/link_id/optional_title/comment_id". This is somewhat awkward but it's just how Reddit works. It's not intended to be something you contruct yourself; this option is intended for passing in the permalink from an existing Link or Comment.
permalink
url is a complete URL for a link or comment, i.e. what would be in address bar on the website.
url
subreddit, link_id and comment_id should be self explanatory. It accepts either short IDs or fullnames, and like all functions that take subreddit as an argument, it can be appreviated to sub.
comment_id
sub
Interally, all of these options simply create a permalink and pass it on to Reddit's API, because that is the only argument that this endpoint accepts.
get_flair_options( subreddit => $subreddit, post_id => $post_id_or_fullname ) get_flair_options( subreddit => $subreddit, username => $username )
Return the flair options for either the post or the user provided.
Returns a hash containing two keys:
choices is an array of hash references containing the flair options. Most important is flair_template_id, which is used to set the flair of a post or user with set_post_flair or set_user_flair. flair_text contains the text of the flair.
choices
flair_template_id
flair_text
current is a hash of the post or user's existing flair.
current
get_inbox ( [ view => MESSAGES_INBOX ] )
Returns a listing of Message objects, where view is one of the MESSAGE constants. All arguments are optional. If all are omitted your default inbox will be returned-- what you would see if you went to reddit.com and clicked the mailbox icon.
view
Checking your inbox via the API doesn't mark it as read. To do that you'll need to call mark_inbox_read.
mark_inbox_read
get_link ( $id_or_fullname )
Returns a Link object for $id_or_fullname.
get_links ( [ subreddit => undef, ] [ view => VIEW_DEFAULT, ] )
Returns a listing of Link objects. All arguments are optional.
subreddit can be a subreddit or multi (ex: "pics+funny"). If omitted, results from the user's front page will be returned-- i.e. what you would see if you visited reddit.com as that user.
fetch_links() is an alias for get_links().
fetch_links()
get_links()
get_links_by_id ( @ids_or_fullnames )
Return an array of Link objects.
get_modlinks ( [ subreddit => 'mod', ] [ mode => 'modqueue' ] )
Return links related to subreddit moderation. subreddit defaults to 'mod', which is subreddits you moderate. mode can be one of 5 values: reports, spam, modqueue, unmoderated, and edited. It defaults to 'modqueue'. Using both defaults will get you the same result as clicking the "modqueue" link that RES places in the upper left of the page, or /r/mod/about/modqueue.
mode
Here is an explanation of the mode options from the API site:
reports: Things that have been reported.
spam: Things that have been marked as spam or otherwise removed.
modqueue: Things requiring moderator review, such as reported things and items caught by the spam filter. Default.
unmoderated: Things that have yet to be approved/removed by a mod.
edited: Things that have been edited recently.
num_reports contains the total number of reports. Reports themselves can be found in the mod_reports and user_reports properties. These are arrays of arrays, i.e.
num_reports
mod_reports
user_reports
[ [ "Spam", 3 ], [ "report #2", 1 ] ] # user_reports [ [ "mod report", "moderator_name" ] ] # mod_reports
The number with user_reports is the number of times that particular report has been sent. This is mainly for duplicates that users have selected from the menu, for example "Spam".
get_modqueue ( [ subreddit => 'mod' ] )
Get the modqueue, i.e. the listing of links and comments you get by visiting /r/mod/about/modqueue. Optionally supply a subreddit. Defaults to 'mod', which is all subreddits you moderate. Identical to calling get_modlinks (subreddit = 'mod', mode => 'modqueue')>.
get_modlinks (subreddit =
get_multi ( name => $multi_name, [ user => $username, ] [ expand => 0, ] )
Get a hash of information about a multireddit. $username defaults to your username.
$username
If expand is true, returns more detailed information about the subreddits in the multi. This can be quite a bit of information, comparable to the amount of information contained in a Subreddit object, however it's not exactly the same, and if you try to create a Subreddit object out of it you'll fail.
expand
get_permalink ( $comment_id, $post_id )
Returns a permalink for $comment_id. If you already have a Comment object, use its get_permalink() function instead. This version causes an extra request because it has to ask Reddit for the parent post's URL first, while a Comment object already has that information. It's provided for backwards compatibility, and for the rare case when you may have a comment's ID but not a comment object (perhaps you have a list of IDs stored in a database). It may be deprecated in the future.
$comment_id
get_permalink()
$comment_id and $post_id can be either fullnames or short IDs.
$post_id
Reddit::Client->get_refresh_token ( $code, $redirect_uri, $client_id, $secret, $user_agent )
Get a permanent refresh token for use in Web-type apps. All arguments are required*. Returns the refresh token.
This is best called in static context, just as it's written above (i.e. with <Reddit::Client-get_refresh_token>>, rather than by instantiating an RC object first.) The reason is that it's completely separate from every other program flow and you only create extra work for yourself by using an existing RC object. If you choose to use an existing RC object, you'll need to create it and then call get_token with your new refresh_token as a parameter. (client_id and secret will need to be passed in either on object creation or when calling get_token.)
<Reddit::Client-
get_token
client_id
secret
code is the one-time use code returned by Reddit after a user authorizes your app. For an explanation of that and redirect_uri, see the token retrieval code flow: https://github.com/reddit-archive/reddit/wiki/OAuth2#token-retrieval-code-flow.
code
redirect_uri
get_subreddit_comments ( [ subreddit => '', ] )
Returns a list of Comment objects from a subreddit or multi. If subreddit is omitted the account's "front page" subreddits are returned (i.e. what you see when you visit reddit.com and are logged in).
get_subreddit_info ( $subreddit )
Returns a hash of information about subreddit $subreddit.
$subreddit
get_token ( client_id => $client_id, secret => $secret, username => $username, password => $password )
get_token ( client_id => $client_id, secret => $secret, refresh_token => $refresh_token )
Get an authentication token from Reddit. Normally a user has no reason to call this function themselves. If you pass in your authentication info when creating a new Reddit::Client onject, get_token will be called automatically using the information provided. Similarly, if your script runs continuously for more than an hour, a new token will be obtained automatically. get_token is exposed in case you need to refresh your authorization token manually for some reason, for example if you want to switch to a different user within the same Reddit::Client instance.
If any arguments are provided, all of the appropriate arguments are required. If none are provided, it will use the information from the previous call.
get_user ( user => $username, [ view => USER_OVERVIEW, ] )
Get information about a user, where view is one of the user constants: overview, comments, submitted, gilded, upvoted, downvoted, hidden, saved, or about. Defaults to 'overview', which shows the user's most recent comments and posts.
The result will be a listing of Links or Comments or a mix of both, except in the case of the 'about' view, in which case it will be a single Account object.
get_wiki ( sub => $subreddit, page => $page, [ data => 0, ] [ v => $version, ] [ v2 => $diff_version ] )
Get the content of a wiki page. If data is true, fetch the full data hash for the page. If v is given, show the wiki page as it was at that version. If both v and v2 are given, show a diff of the two.
data
v
v2
get_wiki_data ( sub => $subreddit, page => $page, [ v => $version, ] [ v2 => $diff_version ] )
Get a data hash for wiki page $page. This function is the same as calling get_wiki with data=1>.
get_wiki
data=
has_token()
Return true if a valid Oauth token exists.
hide ( $fullname )
Hide a post.
ignore_reports ( $fullname ) Ignore reports for a comment or post (moderator action).
info ( $fullname )
Returns a hash of information about $fullname. $fullname can be any of the 8 types of thing.
list_subreddits ( [ view => SUBREDDITS_HOME ] )
Returns a list of subreddits, where view is one of the subreddit constants: '' (i.e. home), 'subscriber', 'popular', 'new', 'contributor', or 'moderator'. Note that as of January 2018 some views, such as the default, are limited to 5,000 results. 'new' still gives infinite results (i.e. a list of all subreddits in existence). Others are untested.
mark_inbox_read()
Mark everything in your inbox as read. May take some time to complete.
me()
Return an Account object that contains information about the logged in account. Aside from static account information it contains the has_mail property, which will be true if there is anything in your inbox.
has_mail
new ( user_agent => $user_agent, [ client_id => $client_id, secret => $secret, username => $username, password => $password, ] [ print_request_errors => 0, ] [ print_response => 0, ] [ print_request => 0, ] [ print_request_on_error => 0 ] [ subdomain => 'www', ] )
new ( user_agent => $user_agent, [ client_id => $client_id, secret => $secret, refresh_token => $refresh_token ] [ print_request_errors => 0, ] [ print_response => 0, ] [ print_request => 0, ] [ print_request_on_error => 0 ] [ subdomain => 'www', ] )
Instantiate a new Reddit::Client object. Optionally authenticate at the same time. (Unless you have some reason not to, this is the recommended way to do it.) For "script"-type apps, this is done by passing in a username, password, client_id and secret. For "web"-type apps, this is done by passing in a refresh_token, client_id and secret.
user_agent is a string that uniquely identifies your app. The API Rules (https://github.com/reddit/reddit/wiki/API#rules) say it should be "something unique and descriptive, including the target platform, a unique application identifier, a version string, and your username as contact information". It also includes this warning: "NEVER lie about your user-agent. This includes spoofing popular browsers and spoofing other bots. We will ban liars with extreme prejudice." user_agent is required as of version 1.2 (before, Reddit::Client would provide one if you didn't).
user_agent
Optional arguments:
subdomain: The subdomain in links generated by Reddit::Client (for example with get_web_url). You can use this to generate links to old.reddit.com to force the old version of Reddit, for example, or new.reddit.com for the new. Default www.
subdomain
get_web_url
print_response_content: Print the content portion of Reddit's HTTP response. Default is print nothing on success and an error code on failure. The content will usually be a blob of JSON, but for certain 500 errors, it may be an entre web page.
print_response_content
print_request_errors: If there is an error, print the content portion of Reddit's response. Not very useful as Reddit's response is usually just a text string repeating the error code.
print_request_errors
print_request: Print the entire HTTP request and response for every request.
print_request
print_request_on_error: If there is a request error, print the entire HTTP request and response.
print_request_on_error
remove ( $fullname )
Remove a post or comment (moderator action). Link and Comment objects also have their own remove method, which doesn't require a fullname.
remove
Note on the mechanics of Reddit: removing is different than flagging as spam, although both have the end result of hiding a thing from view of non-moderators. Flagging as spam also trains the spam filter and will cause further posts from that user to be automatically removed.
save ( $fullname )
Save a post or comment.
send_message ( to => $username, subject => $subject, text => $message )
Send a private message to $username. $subject is limited to 100 characters.
$subject
set_post_flair ( subreddit => $subreddit, post_id => $post_id_or_fullname, flair_template_id => $flair_id )
Set the flair on a post. flair_template_id is acquired via get_flair_options().
get_flair_options()
set_user_flair ( subreddit => $subreddit, username => $username, flair_template_id => $flair_id )
Set the flair for a user. flair_template_id is acquired via get_flair_options().
submit_comment ( parent_id => $fullname, text => $text)
Submit a comment under $fullname, which must be a post or comment. Returns fullname of the new comment.
submit_crosspost ( subreddit => $subreddit, title => $title, source_id => $fullname, [ inbox_replies => 1, ] [ repost => 0, ] )
Submit a crosspost. Returns the fullname of the new post. You must be subscribed to or a moderator of the subreddit you are crossposting to, otherwise it will fail with the error message "subreddit not found". (This message seems to be an error itself, or is possibly referring to Reddit's internal logic. For example, when crossposting, maybe Reddit selects the subreddit from your list of subscribed/moderated subreddits, and "subreddit not found" means it can't be found in this list.)
source_id is the id or fullname of an existing post. This function is identical to submit_link, but with source_id replacing url.
source_id
submit_link
If inbox_replies is defined and is false, disable inbox replies for that post. If repost is true, the link is allowed to be a repost. (Otherwise, if it is a repost, the request will fail with the error "That link has already been submitted".) sub can be used as an alias for subreddit.
inbox_replies
repost
submit_link ( subreddit => $subreddit, title => $title, url => $url, [ inbox_replies => 1, ] [ repost => 0, ] )
Submit a link. Returns the fullname of the new post.
submit_text ( subreddit => $subreddit, title => $title, text => $text, [ inbox_replies => 1 ] )
Submit a text post. Returns the fullname of the new post. If inbox_replies is defined and is false, disable inbox replies for that post.
unhide ( $fullname )
Unhide a post.
unsave ( $fullname )
Unsave a post or comment.
version()
Return the Reddit::Client version.
vote ( $fullname, $direction )
Vote on a post or comment. $direction can be 1, 0, or -1 (0 to clear votes).
$direction
DEFAULT_LIMIT => 25 VIEW_HOT => '' VIEW_NEW => 'new' VIEW_CONTROVERSIAL => 'controversial' VIEW_TOP => 'top' VIEW_RISING => 'rising' VIEW_DEFAULT => VIEW_HOT VOTE_UP => 1 VOTE_DOWN => -1 VOTE_NONE => 0 SUBMIT_LINK => 'link' SUBMIT_SELF => 'self' SUBMIT_MESSAGE => 'message' SUBMIT_CROSSPOST => 'crosspost' MESSAGES_INBOX => 'inbox' MESSAGES_UNREAD => 'unread' MESSAGES_SENT => 'sent' MESSAGES_MESSAGES => 'messages' MESSAGES_COMMENTREPLIES => 'comments' MESSAGES_POSTREPLIES => 'selfreply' MESSAGES_MENTIONS => 'mentions' SUBREDDITS_HOME => '' SUBREDDITS_MINE => 'subscriber' SUBREDDITS_POPULAR => 'popular' SUBREDDITS_NEW => 'new' SUBREDDITS_CONTRIB => 'contributor' SUBREDDITS_MOD => 'moderator' USER_OVERVIEW => 'overview' USER_COMMENTS => 'comments' USER_SUBMITTED => 'submitted' USER_GILDED => 'gilded' USER_UPVOTED => 'upvoted' USER_DOWNVOTED => 'downvoted' USER_HIDDEN => 'hidden' USER_SAVED => 'saved' USER_ABOUT => 'about'
mailto:earthtone.rc@gmail.com
BSD license
To install Reddit::Client, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Reddit::Client
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Reddit::Client
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.