This is a CLI utility written in Python. Designed for parsing YouTube RSS feeds.
The command-line interface is based on the standard argparse module.
When a user provides a channel or playlist ID, the program requests one of the following URLs:
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=PLAYLIST_ID
These links return XML documents for parsing.
If the user specifies @username, the program makes an additional request to https://www.youtube.com/@username to get a link to the RSS feed. Then it gets the XML document from https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID.
The XML response is parsed using lxml. The main output is information about the feed and a list of feed entries (videos, shorts, live streams).
Clone repository.
git clone https://github.com/NataliaBondarenko/yt-feed-cli.git
Change directory to the project directory.
cd yt-feed-cli
It is recommended to create and activate a virtual environment. And then install the requirements in the virtual environment.
Install the requirements.
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
Try CLI.
python -m ytfc <options>
See: pip docs, setuptools docs.
Install the project in editable mode (pip version >= 21.3).
python -m pip install -e .
The dot represents the current folder, which should be the folder where the pyproject.toml file is located.
Get the list of available options.
ytfc -h
usage: ytfc [-h] [-i ID [ID ...]] [-r FILE] [-n N] [-v] [-s FILE] [-np]
This CLI parses RSS feeds and outputs a list of YouTube videos, shorts, and live streams.
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-i ID [ID ...], --ids ID [ID ...]
Channel or playlist IDs for a request.
-r FILE, --read FILE File path to a text file containing a list of channel or playlist IDs.
-n N, --number N Limit the number of entries in the output.
-v, --verbose Display details about the feed and its entries.
-s FILE, --save FILE File path to save the results. Creates a txt, html, or json file with the given name.
-np, --no-print Skip printing results when saving to a file.
Without the --ids or --read options, the CLI shows usage examples.
ytfc
The simplest form of use is to specify the IDs of the desired channels or playlists.
ytfc -i UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ UULPBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
You can also use @username.
ytfc -i @youtube
Another option is to use a list of identifiers stored in a text file.
ytfc -r <local path to text file>
Each identifier must be on a new line. You can add comments after the # symbol. Example file content:
# Channels:
# uploads (@username)
@youtube
# uploads (UC)
UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# Playlists:
# uploads (UU)
UUBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# videos (UULF)
UULFBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# live streams (UULV)
UULVBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# shorts (UUSH)
UUSHBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# popular videos (UULP)
UULPBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# popular live streams (UUPV)
UUPVBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# popular shorts (UUPS)
UUPSBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
# members-only videos (UUMO, UUMF)
# members-only live streams (UUMV)
# members-only shorts (UUMS)
# regular playlist (PL)
PLbpi6ZahtOH7MBdd2q811v_7Tu31vnsyq
Both options, --read and --ids, can be used at the same time. In this case, the identifiers from the file will be merged with the manually entered identifiers into a single list. All other options will be applied to this list.
ytfc -i @youtube -r <local path to text file> -n 1 -v
Limit the number of entries in the output for each ID. The number of entries in the RSS feed is up to 15.
ytfc -i UULFBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ UUSHBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ -n 5
The --verbose option displays details about feed entries.
ytfc -i UULPBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ -n 1 -v
Output:
=== UULPBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ ===
PLAYLIST FEED
feed title: Popular videos
playlist created by: YouTube
playlist creator url: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ
playlist created: 2021-10-13T12:16:00+00:00
video title: YouTube Rewind: The Ultimate 2016 Challenge | #YouTubeRewind
video url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GuOjXYl5ew
published: 2016-12-07T18:00:03+00:00
views: 245488982
likes: 4109862
description: YouTube Rewind 2016. Celebrating ...
Output without --verbose option:
=== UULPBR8-60-B28hp2BmDPdntcQ ===
PLAYLIST FEED
feed title: Popular videos
playlist created by: YouTube
video title: YouTube Rewind: The Ultimate 2016 Challenge | #YouTubeRewind
video url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GuOjXYl5ew
published: 2016-12-07T18:00:03+00:00
Save the result to a file.
Creates a text file and saves the result as it was printed.
ytfc -i @youtube -s <local path>/output.txt
Creates a text file and saves the result as an HTML document.
ytfc -i @youtube -s <local path>/output.html
Creates a text file and saves the result as JSON.
ytfc -i @youtube -s <local path>/output.json
Skip printing results when saving to a file. If errors occur, error messages will still be printed.
ytfc -i @youtube -s <path> -np