SoCLI

Stack Overflow command line written in python. Using SoCLI you can search and browse Stack Overflow without leaving the terminal. Just use the socli command:

SoCLI in action

Installation

Supported platforms

Linux
Windows
Mac

Requirements

Python 3.5 or higher

For Linux

Install python and just use pip command to install socli:

sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip
pip install socli

For Windows

Download and install Python. Don't forget to check the option "Add to path".

Open a command prompt with administrative privileges and use pip command to install socli:

pip install socli

Use easy_install if your python path has a space in it. Read more: "Failed to create process":

easy_install socli

For Mac/Linux (via homebrew)

Install socli:

brew tap gautamkrishnar/socli
brew install socli

Enabling the shell autocompletion

If you installed socli via pyPi you may need to enable the shell autocompletion. Add the following to your .bashrc file to enable it:

socli --register

Updating

Use the command below to update your existing version of socli to the newest version so that you won't miss any features:

pip install --upgrade socli

If you installed via homebrew:

brew upgrade socli

Usage

Quick Search

Use the socli command followed by the search query:

socli for loop in python syntax

The above command will search for the query "for loop in python syntax" and displays the first most voted question in Stack Overflow with its most voted answer. Pretty quick, right?

Interactive Search

You can search Stack Overflow interactively by using the command below:

socli -iq html error 404

This will display a list of questions from Stack Overflow for the query "html error 404" and it will allow you to choose any of the questions you like interactively. When you choose a question, it will display the complete description of the chosen question with its most voted answer. You can also browse through the other answers to that question using the up and down arrow keys as well as go back to the list of questions using the left arrow key.

Manual Search

This will allow you to specify a requested question number for your query. For example, consider the following command:

socli -r 2 -q javascript prototype function

This command searches for "javascript prototype function" in Stack Overflow and displays the second question that contains it.

Topic-Based Search

Stack Overflow supports topic by using tags. socli allows you to query Stack Overflow based on specific tags. Just specify the tag via the following command:

socli -t javascript -q window.open

You can also specify multiple tags, Just separate them with a comma:

socli -t javascript,node.js -q window.open

See the complete list of tags here.

User Profile Browsing

Just use the command below to set your user ID in socli. When you execute the command next time, it will automatically fetch the data.

socli -u

if your are an extensive user of StackOverflow, socli allows you to set your own API key to overcome the StackOverflow API Limitations. Just use the command below:

socli --api

You can get an API Key here by registering as a new app. Please don't use SoCLI as app name.

Posting a New Question

If you can't find an answer for your question in Stack Overflow, socli allows you to create a new question via the web browser. Just type the command below and socli will open the new question page of Stack Overflow in the web browser for you:

socli -n

Opening a url directly

If you have the url of the Stack Overflow post then you can pass it using --open-url or -o. For example socli --open-url https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20639180/explanation-of-how-nested-list-comprehension-works

Syntax:

socli has the following syntax

Usage: socli [ Arguments] < Search Query >

Arguments (optional)

Short	Long	Description	Example
-q	--query	Used to specify the query when arguments are used. A query value must be passed to it. If it is used alone (socli -q query) then it will display the same result as socli query.	socli -q query
-i	--interactive	Used to search interactively. It doesn't take any values. It must be followed by a -q or --query after it.	socli -i -q query
-r	--res	Used for manual search. It takes the question number as the argument and it must be followed by a -q or --query after it.	socli -r 4 -q query
-t	--tag	Specifies the tag to search for the query on Stack Overflow. It must be followed by a -q or --query after it.	socli -t js -q query
-n	--new	Opens the web browser to create a new question on Stack Overflow.	socli --new
-u	--user	Displays the user profile informations. If no argument is given, it will display your profile.	socli -u 22656
-a	--api	Sets a custom API key.	socli --api
-d	--del	Deletes the configuration file generated by socli -u manually.	socli -d
-s	--sosearch	SoCLI uses Google search by default to search for questions. To override this and use stackoverflow's default search instead.	socli -s -q for loop python
-h	--help	Displays the help text.	socli --help
-o	--open-url	Displays the given url in socli if possible if not opens in browser.	socli -o https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20639180/explanation-of-how-nested-list-comprehension-works
-j	--json-output	Gives output to stdout as json	socli -jq for loop python
-g	--register	Registers socli's shell autocompletion	socli -g
-v	--version	Displays the version of socli.	socli -v

Query

This term refers to what you're searching for in Stack Overflow.

Features

These are the amazing features of SoCLI:

Manual Search
Interactively browse Stack Overflow using the interactive mode
Coloured interface
Question stats view
Tag support
Can open the page in a browser
Can view user profiles
Can create a new question via the web browser
Can open a Stack Overflow page on the terminal directly from a url

To Do

Command line interface for:

[ ] Stack Overflow authentication
[ ] Posting to Stack Overflow
[ ] Upvote answer
[ ] Comment on an answer
[ ] Browsing stackoverflow home page

Please check out the list of issues.

Testing

Automated tests are setup by using pytest, the tests can be run locally by invoking a python setup.py test.

All tests are in the socli/tests/ subdirectory of this repository.

TravisCI is supposed to run the test-suite on build.

💥 How to Contribute ?

If you are willing to contribute to SoCLI project, you are awesome! Just follow the steps given in CONTRIBUTING.md 😃

Maintainers

Please reach out to any of the following people if you have any queries:

_{Gautam krishna R}
💻

_{Hedy Li}
💻

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

_aaxu 💻	_kilbee 💻	_{Sam Dean} 📖	_mwwynne 💻	_{Carlos J. Puga Medina} 🐛	_{Jon Ericson} 💻	_{Ankit Kr. Singh} 💻
_{Harsha Alva} 💻	_{Pia Mancini} 📖	_{Aditya Tandon} 🐛	_{Akshatha Nayak} 💻	_{Liam Hawkins} 💻	_Arount 💻	_{Cédric Picard} 🐛
_{Amartya Chaudhuri} 💻	_{Elliott Beach} 💻	_{Prashant Chahal} 💻	_{Insiyah Hajoori} 💻	_C 💻	_{Liam Byrne} 💻	_{Tran Chi Khang} 💻
_{Alix Poulsen} 📖	_albalitz 💻	_{Aniruddha Bhattacharjee} 💻	_{Daniel St.Jacques} 💻	_{Donnell Muse} 💻	_{JM Lopez} 💻	_{JOBIN PHILIP ABRAHAM} 📖
_{Jakub Kukul} 💻	_Pigeon 📖	_{Rajdeep Biswas} 💻	_{Sachin Kukreja} 💻	_{Simon Reap} 💻	_Srisaila 💻	_{agarwalnishtha} 💻
_{Frederick Kozlowski} 💻	_{Esha Lath} 💻	_thumpri 💻	_{Adam Zhang} 💻	_{prathampowar2001} 💻	_{Subhankar Hotta} 💻	_{ankushduacodes} 💻
_{Shriram Bhat} 💻	_{Vjs Pranav} 💻	_{Saif Kazi} 💻	_pstreff 💻	_anshik1998 💻	_abstanton 💻	_{Sabu Siyad} 💻
_pspiagicw 💻	_{Ryan Hertz} 💻	_tharunc 📖	_{Ananthakrishnan Nair RS} 📖	_{Muthu Annamalai.V} 📖	_Ayushman 💻	_{Tushar Nankani} 💻
_{Ikko Ashimine} 📖	_{Sidharth Ajithkumar} 💻	_{Sam Sheffres} 💻	_{Rushi Dolas} 💻	_{mostlyvirtual} 💻	_Artspark 💻	_{Caleb Voorhees} 💻

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!

Bugs

If you are experiencing any bugs, don’t forget to open a new issue.

Error Solving

If you encounter "AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'SSL ST INIT'

sudo pip uninstall pyopenssl
sudo pip install pyopenssl or sudo easy_install pyopenssl

Thanks

Thanks to all the existing users of SoCLI.
Thanks to all upvoters and followers on reddit.
impress that girl in the Starbucks by browsing SO with your CLI app XD XD by insane0hflex. Thanks for the post 😉
Special thanks to people who wrote about SoCLI on their blogs and websites:
Tweets:
- @cyb3rops
- @pythontrending
Thanks to my favourite IDE JetBrains PyCharm ❤️ 😄

Liked it?

Hope you liked this project, don't forget to give it a star ⭐

gautamkrishnar / socli

readme