youtube-comment-scraper-cli
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philbot9
Command line utility for scraping YouTube comments.
YouTube Comment Scraper
Deprecation Notice
This package has been deprecated and no longer works.
About
Command line utility for scraping YouTube comments.
If you prefer a simple-to-use online solution, please go to http://ytcomments.klostermann.ca.
Installation
- Download and install Node.js (at least v6.11.4): https://nodejs.org/
- In a terminal window, type
npm install -g youtube-comment-scraper-cli - The program can be run from the command line with
youtube-comment-scraper <VideoID> - Read the rest of the docs or check out
youtube-comment-scraper --help
Usage
Command
$ youtube-comment-scraper [options] <VideoID>
Tutorial
For more detailed instructions suitable for beginners take a look at the NetLab Tutorial.
Where's the VideoId?
It's part of the video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<VideoID>.
Examples:
| Video URL | Video ID |
|---|---|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123def45 | abc123def12 |
| https://youtu.be/abc123def45 | abc123def45 |
Options
All command line options are optional (d'oh), except for the VideoID parameter.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-f --format <format> |
output format (json or csv) |
-o --outputFile <outputFile> |
write results to the given file |
-d --stdout |
write results to stdout |
-c --collapseReplies |
collapse replies and treat them the same as regular comments |
-s --stream |
output comments one-at-a-time as they are being scraped |
-V, --version |
output the version number |
-h, --help |
output usage information |
Options explained
Format
-f --format <format>
The comments can be formatted as either JSON or CSV data. Defaults to JSON if not specified.
Examples
youtube-comment-scraper -f csv <VideoID>
youtube-comment-scraper --format json <VideoID>
Output File
-o --outputFile <outputFile>
The comments can be written directly to a file. In that case they will not be written to stdout (the terminal window). If you want both file and stdout output use the --stdout flag in addition to --outputFile.
Examples
youtube-comment-scraper -o ./path/to/some/file.json <VideoID>
youtube-comment-scraper --outputFile some-file.csv --stdout --format csv <VideoID>
Stdout
-d --stdout
By default comments are always written to stdout (even without the --stdout flag). However, when using --outputFile, they will only be written to the file. If you want output to both, use --stdout.
Examples
youtube-comment-scraper -d <VideoID>
youtube-comment-scraper --outputFile ./some/file --stdout <VideoID>
Collapse Replies
-c --collapseReplies
By default replies to comments are kept nested under that comment. If --collapseReplies is set, replies will be treated the same as regular comments. An additional field is added to replies replyTo wich contains the ID of the comment to which a reply belongs.
Examples
youtube-comment-scraper -c <VideoID>
youtube-comment-scraper --collapseReplies --format csv <VideoID>
Stream
-s --stream
By default the program will scrape all comments without outputting any of them until the scrape is complete. When the --stream flag is set, comments are written one at a time as soon as they are scraped, while still maintaining the original order of comments (newest first). This works for both the JSON and CSV format.
Examples
youtube-comment-scraper -s <VideoID>
youtube-comment-scraper --stream --format csv <VideoID>
youtube-comment-scraper --stream --format csv --outputFile some-file.csv <VideoID>
youtube-comment-scraper --stream <VideoID> > json-processing-tool
Version
-V --version
Output the current version of the program.
Examples
youtube-comment-scraper -V
youtube-comment-scraper --version
Help
-h --help
Output usage help.
Examples
youtube-comment-scraper -h
youtube-comment-scraper --help
philbot9