# Reddit API Interaction with PRAW

This guide demonstrates how to interact with the Reddit API using `PRAW` (Python Reddit API Wrapper). PRAW simplifies the process of accessing Reddit's API, handling authentication and rate limiting automatically.

**Modules Used:**
*   `praw`: The Python Reddit API Wrapper.
*   [[programming/python/modules/python-dotenv-module|python-dotenv]]: To securely manage API credentials.
*   [[programming/python/modules/argparse-module|argparse]]: To handle command-line arguments.

## Prerequisites

1.  **Reddit Account**: You need a Reddit account.
2.  **Create an App**:
    *   Go to https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps.
    *   Click **create another app...** (or "are you a developer? create an app...").
    *   Select **script**.
    *   Fill in name and description.
    *   For **redirect uri**, you can use `http://localhost:8080` (not used for script apps but required).
    *   Click **create app**.
3.  **Credentials**: Note down the **client ID** (under the name) and **client secret**.

## Installation

```bash
pip install praw python-dotenv
```

## Setup

Create a `.env` file in your project directory:

```text
REDDIT_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
REDDIT_USER_AGENT=python:my_reddit_tool:v1.0 (by /u/yourusername)
```

## The Code

Save this as `reddit_tool.py`.

```python
import praw
import os
import argparse
import sys
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Load Config
load_dotenv()

def get_reddit():
    try:
        return praw.Reddit(
            client_id=os.getenv("REDDIT_CLIENT_ID"),
            client_secret=os.getenv("REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET"),
            user_agent=os.getenv("REDDIT_USER_AGENT", "python:script:v1.0")
        )
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Configuration Error: {e}")
        sys.exit(1)

def get_hot_posts(subreddit_name, limit=5):
    reddit = get_reddit()
    print(f"Fetching hot posts from r/{subreddit_name}...")
    
    try:
        subreddit = reddit.subreddit(subreddit_name)
        
        # Iterating triggers the API request
        for submission in subreddit.hot(limit=limit):
            print(f"\nTitle: {submission.title}")
            print(f"Score: {submission.score} | Comments: {submission.num_comments}")
            print(f"URL:   {submission.url}")
            
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")

def get_user_info(username):
    reddit = get_reddit()
    print(f"Fetching info for u/{username}...")
    
    try:
        user = reddit.redditor(username)
        # Accessing attributes triggers the fetch
        print(f"\n--- User: {user.name} ---")
        print(f"ID: {user.id}")
        print(f"Link Karma: {user.link_karma}")
        print(f"Comment Karma: {user.comment_karma}")
        
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Reddit API Tool with PRAW")
    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", help="Command to run")

    # Subreddit Command
    sub_parser = subparsers.add_parser("subreddit", help="Get hot posts from a subreddit")
    sub_parser.add_argument("name", help="Subreddit name")
    sub_parser.add_argument("--limit", type=int, default=5, help="Number of posts")

    # User Command
    user_parser = subparsers.add_parser("user", help="Get user information")
    user_parser.add_argument("name", help="Reddit username")

    args = parser.parse_args()

    if args.command == "subreddit":
        get_hot_posts(args.name, args.limit)
    elif args.command == "user":
        get_user_info(args.name)
    else:
        parser.print_help()
```

## Usage

```bash
# Get hot posts from r/python
python reddit_tool.py subreddit python --limit 3

# Get user stats
python reddit_tool.py user spez
```

[[programming/python/python]]