HN Saved Links & Comments Export

This is a python script to export your saved links from Hacker News. What's a saved link, you ask? Any story that you upvote on HN is added to your saved links. You can access them at https://news.ycombinator.com/upvoted?id=<your username> while logged in. I've added also a python script to export the comment that have been upvoted.

Instructions

Python 3 is required to run this. If you don't have it installed, install it using the package manager for your OS before following these instructions.

1. Setup a virtual env (recommended, but optional) and install the dependencies:

   # Set up and activate a Python 3 virtual env
   $ python3 -m venv venv
   $ source venv/bin/activate
   
   # Install dependencies
   $ pip install -r requirements.txt

   You might have to use sudo with the last command on Linux.

2. Run the script export_links.py and enter your HN login credentials.

   $ python3 export_links.py
   Enter your HN account details:
   Username: amjd
   Password: [password will be hidden]

3. After all the links are processed, you will be asked to enter an output file name. Use any name with the extension .json or .csv, or leave blank to go with the default links.json. The output file will be saved in the appropriate format.

4. Run the script export_comments.py and enter your HN login credentials.

   $ python3 export_comments.py
   Enter your HN account details:
   Username: amjd
   Password: [password will be hidden]

5. After all the comments are processed, you will be asked to enter an output file name. Use any name with the extension .json or .csv, or leave blank to go with the default comments.json. The output file will be saved in the appropriate format.

6. Profit!

P.S.: Your username and password are 100% safe and are sent over HTTPS. You can study the source code of this small script to verify that.

Sample output: links.json

JSON:

{
  "total": 2661,
  "links": [
    {
      "author": "coloneltcb",
      "url": "https://m.signalvnoise.com/getting-from-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-to-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-c65cc3bb7cb1#.rgrwe5cnw",
      "age": "2 days ago",
      "title": "How to ask for reviews without feeling icky about it",
      "comments_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11740967",
      "number": 1,
      "comments": 28,
      "points": 79
    },
    {
      "author": "adventured",
      "url": "http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-22/modi-s-mini-shuttle-set-to-blast-into-elon-musk-s-race-for-space",
      "age": "7 hours ago",
      "title": "India is set to launch a scale model of a reusable spacecraft on Monday",
      "comments_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11751776",
      "number": 2,
      "comments": 43,
      "points": 117
    },


    "..."
    
    
    {
      "author": "lydiahan",
      "url": "http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131029100222-95015-my-first-job-fired-and-rehired-on-day-1?trk=tod-home-art-list-small_1",
      "age": "931 days ago",
      "title": "My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1",
      "comments_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6667202",
      "number": 2661,
      "comments": 113,
      "points": 199
    }
  ]
}

Sample output: comments.json

JSON:

{
  "total": 163,
  "links": [
    {
        "author": "FireInsight",
        "author_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=FireInsight",
        "age": "1 day ago",
        "story_title": "Show HN: Writedown - Open Source Markdown Diary",
        "story_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36461866",
        "context": "https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id=36466326",
        "comment": "I use logseq for my diaries. https://logseq.com/It's very powerful, but really doesn't feel that way. Each day I open it, it creates a new YYYY-MM-DD.md and shows it to me. All content is MD lists (or \"blocks\") and can be individually tagged with #hashtags. When there's a certain topic I wrote about, say writing down a dream I had, I tag the top-level block with #dream. Then I can write under it as I please. All such blocks will be visible on the #dream page, with the correct dates visible.It's very easy to wrap my head around. I just write, outliner style, whatever I'm thinking of and want to write down. Never need to create a new page, always just directly to writing. Earlier dates can be found by just scrolling down.I don't know why anyone with the technical knowhow to use a notetaking tool that's just a folder with markdown files would use a journaling app on some server somewhere. Syncing is very easily handled, too, with something like Syncthing or Dropbox."
    },
    {
        "author": "JusticeJuice",
        "author_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=JusticeJuice",
        "age": "2 days ago",
        "story_title": "Arwes: Futuristic Sci-Fi UI Web Framework",
        "story_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36446637",
        "context": "https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id=36449381",
        "comment": "https://www.hudsandguis.com/ - more FUI work, one of my favourite sites."
    },

  "..."
    {
        "author": "danenania",
        "author_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=danenania",
        "age": "on May 18, 2022",
        "story_title": "I spent two years launching tiny projects",
        "story_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31421364",
        "context": "https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id=31424699",
        "comment": "Check out the #buildinpublic hashtag on Twitter. You\u2019ll find many good examples.Also Indiehackers."
    }
  ]
}

Original

HN Saved Export by amjd

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HN Saved Export by thomaskcr

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