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A simple terminal viewer for Reddit (Reddit Terminal Viewer)

Project description

<h1 align="center">
<img alt="Reddit Terminal Viewer" src="resources/logo.png"/>
</h1>

<p align="center">
RTV provides a terminal interface to view and interact with reddit.<br>
It's compatible with most terminal emulators on Linux and macOS.
</p>

<p align="center">
<img alt="title image" src="resources/title_image.png"/>
</p>

<p align="center">
RTV is built in python using the curses library.
</p>

---

<p align="center">
<a href="https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rtv/">
<img alt="pypi" src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/rtv.svg?label=version"/>
</a>
<a href="https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rtv/">
<img alt="python" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/python-2.7%2C%203.6-blue.svg"/>
</a>
<a href="https://travis-ci.org/michael-lazar/rtv">
<img alt="travis-ci" src="https://travis-ci.org/michael-lazar/rtv.svg?branch=master"/>
</a>
<a href="https://coveralls.io/github/michael-lazar/rtv?branch=master">
<img alt="coveralls" src="https://coveralls.io/repos/michael-lazar/rtv/badge.svg?branch=master&service=github"/>
</a>
<a href="https://gitter.im/michael-lazar/rtv">
<img alt="gitter" src="https://img.shields.io/gitter/room/michael-lazar/rtv.js.svg"/>
</a>
</p>

---

* [Demo](#demo)
* [Installation](#installation)
* [Usage](#usage)
* [Settings](#settings)
* [Themes](#themes)
* [FAQ](#faq)
* [Contributing](#contributing)
* [License](#license)

## Demo

<p align="center">
<img alt="title image" src="resources/demo.gif"/>
</p>

## Installation

### PyPI package

RTV is available on [PyPI](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/rtv/) and can be installed with pip:

```bash
$ pip install rtv
```

### Native packages

See [Repology](https://repology.org/metapackage/rtv/packages) for an up-to-date list of supported packages:

```bash
# macOS
$ brew install rtv

# Debian 9+, Ubuntu 17.04+
$ apt install rtv

# Arch
$ pacaur -S rtv

# Nix
$ nix-env -i rtv
```

## Usage

To run the program, type:

```bash
$ rtv --help
```

### Controls

Move the cursor using either the arrow keys or *Vim* style movement:

- Press <kbd>▲</kbd> and <kbd>▼</kbd> to scroll through submissions
- Press <kbd>▶</kbd> to view the selected submission and <kbd>◀</kbd> to return
- Press <kbd>space-bar</kbd> to expand/collapse comments
- Press <kbd>u</kbd> to login
- Press <kbd>?</kbd> to open the help screen

Press <kbd>/</kbd> to open the navigation prompt, where you can type things like:

- ``/front``
- ``/r/commandprompt+linuxmasterrace``
- ``/r/programming/controversial-week``
- ``/u/me``
- ``/u/multi-mod/m/art``
- ``/domain/github.com``

See [CONTROLS](CONTROLS.rst) for the full list of commands.

## Settings

### Configuration File

Configuration files are stored in the ``{HOME}/.config/rtv/`` directory.

Check out [rtv.cfg](rtv/templates/rtv.cfg) for the full list of configurable options. You can clone this file into your home directory by running:

```bash
$ rtv --copy-config
```

### Viewing Media Links

You can use [mailcap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_type#Mailcap) to configure how RTV will open different types of links.

<p align="center">
<img alt="title image" src="resources/mailcap.gif"/>
</p>

A mailcap file allows you to associate different MIME media types, like ``image/jpeg`` or ``video/mp4``, with shell commands. This feature is disabled by default because it takes a a few extra steps to configure. To get started, copy the default mailcap template to your home directory.

```bash
$ rtv --copy-mailcap
```

This template contains examples for common MIME types that work with popular reddit websites like *imgur*, *youtube*, and *gfycat*. Open the mailcap template and follow the [instructions](rtv/templates/mailcap) listed inside.

Once you've setup your mailcap file, enable it by launching rtv with the ``rtv --enable-media`` flag (or set it in your **rtv.cfg**)

### Environment Variables

The default programs that RTV interacts with can be configured through environment variables:

<table>
<tr>
<td><strong>$RTV_EDITOR</strong></td>
<td>A program used to compose text submissions and comments, e.g. <strong>vim</strong>, <strong>emacs</strong>, <strong>gedit</strong>
<br/> <em>If not specified, will fallback to $VISUAL and $EDITOR in that order.</em></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>$RTV_BROWSER</strong></td>
<td>A program used to open links to external websites, e.g. <strong>firefox</strong>, <strong>google-chrome</strong>, <strong>w3m</strong>, <strong>lynx</strong>
<br/> <em>If not specified, will fallback to $BROWSER, or your system's default browser.</em></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>$RTV_URLVIEWER</strong></td>
<td>A tool used to extract hyperlinks from blocks of text, e.g. <a href=https://github.com/sigpipe/urlview>urlview</a>, <a href=https://github.com/firecat53/urlscan>urlscan</a>
<br/> <em>If not specified, will fallback to urlview if it is installed.</em></td>
</tr>
</table>

### Clipboard

RTV supports copying submission links to the OS clipboard. On macOS this is supported out of the box.
On Linux systems you will need to install either [xsel](http://www.vergenet.net/~conrad/software/xsel/) or [xclip](https://sourceforge.net/projects/xclip/).

## Themes

Themes can be used to customize the look and feel of RTV

<table>
<tr>
<td align="center">
<p><strong>Solarized Dark</strong></p>
<img src="resources/theme_solarized_dark.png"></img>
</td>
<td align="center">
<p><strong>Solarized Light</strong></p>
<img src="resources/theme_solarized_light.png"></img>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">
<p><strong>Papercolor</strong></p>
<img src="resources/theme_papercolor.png"></img>
</td>
<td align="center">
<p><strong>Molokai</strong></p>
<img src="resources/theme_molokai.png"></img>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

List installed themes with ``--list-themes`` command, and select one with ``--theme``. You can also set the theme permenantly in your [rtv.cfg](rtv/templates/rtv.cfg) file. You can use the <kbd>F2</kbd> & <kbd>F3</kbd> keys inside of RTV to preview themes.

For instructions on writing and installing your own themes, see [THEMES.md](THEMES.md).

## FAQ

<details>
<summary>Why am I getting an error during installation/when launching rtv?</summary>

> If your distro ships with an older version of python 2.7 or python-requests,
> you may experience SSL errors or other package incompatibilities. The
> easiest way to fix this is to install rtv using python 3. If you
> don't already have pip3, see http://stackoverflow.com/a/6587528 for setup
> instructions. Then do
>
> ```bash
> $ sudo pip uninstall rtv
> $ sudo pip3 install -U rtv
> ```

</details>
<details>
<summary>Why do I see garbled text like <em>M-b~@M-"</em> or <em>^@</em>?</summary>

> This type of text usually shows up when python is unable to render
> unicode properly.
>
> 1. Try starting RTV in ascii-only mode with ``rtv --ascii``
> 2. Make sure that the terminal/font that you're using supports unicode
> 3. Try [setting the LOCALE to utf-8](https://perlgeek.de/en/article/set-up-a-clean-utf8-environment)
> 4. Your python may have been built against the wrong curses library,
> see [here](stackoverflow.com/questions/19373027) and
> [here](https://bugs.python.org/issue4787) for more information

</details>
<details>
<summary>How do I run the code directly from the repository?</summary>

> This project is structured to be run as a python *module*. This means that
> you need to launch it using python's ``-m`` flag. See the example below, which
> assumes that you have cloned the repository into the directory **~/rtv_project**.
>
> ```bash
> $ cd ~/rtv_project
> $ python3 -m rtv
> ```

</details>

## Contributing
All feedback and suggestions are welcome, just post an issue!

Before writing any code, please read the [Contributor Guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.rst).

## License
This project is distributed under the [MIT](LICENSE) license.



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