README.md

In bretsw/redditor: Collection and Analysis of Reddit Data in R

redditor

Collection and Analysis of Reddit Data in R

Overview

The goal of {redditor} is to retrieve recent subreddit data for analysis in R.

Installation

Soon, you will be able to install the released version of {redditor} from CRAN with:

install.packages("redditor")

You can also install the development version of {redditor} from GitHub with:

install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("bretsw/redditor")

Authentication

The Reddit API requires OAuth2 authentication; read more here. Get started by create your own appication key at https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps. Read more about the Reddit API on the documentation webpage.

Then save your Reddit API token in the .Renviron file as reddit_token. You can quickly access this file using the R code usethis::edit_r_environ(scope='user'). Add a line to this file that reads: reddit_token="PasteYourGoogleKeyInsideTheseQuotes". To read your key into R, use the code Sys.getenv('reddit_token'). Note that {redditor} retrieves your saved API key automatically and securely. Once you’ve saved the .Renviron file, quit your R session and restart. {redditor} functions will work for you from now on.

If you need to revisit or edit your Reddit application key, simply visit https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps in a Web browser.

usethis::edit_r_environ(scope='user')

Usage

The Reddit API rate limit is 60 requests per minute. Each item returned (e.g., a post) is considered a request. So, using the get_posts() default to retrieve 100 would be considered 100 requests by the API and requires a pause before running again.

get_posts()

clean_posts()

Learning more about {redditor}

For a walkthrough of numerous additional {redditor} functions, visit the Using {redditor} with a teaching-related subreddit vignette webpage.

Getting help

{redditor} is still a work in progress, so I fully expect that there are still some bugs to work out and functions to document better. If you find an issue, have a question, or think of something that you really wish {redditor} would do for you, don’t hesitate to email Bret or reach out on Twitter: @bretsw.

You can also file an issue on Github.

Future collaborations

This is package is still in development, and I welcome new contributors. Just reach out through the same channels as “Getting help.”

License

The {redditor} package is licensed under a GNU General Public License v3.0, or GPL-3. For background on why I chose this license, read Hadley Wickham’s take on R package licensing.

bretsw/redditor documentation built on June 11, 2020, 12:15 a.m.