Blog for U's Bargain Network

If you have a Twitter account, you will know there are friends follow you and you are not following them. To  be nice to your fans, you’d better follow them back. If you have a large number fans added everyday, it will be hard to catch up. Now it is time to automate the process. The following PERL function will do the trick for you.

#!/usr/bin/perl

require 5.6.0;

use strict;

use warnings;

use DBI;

 

# ==== get command line arguments

 

if ($#ARGV != 1) {

    print “usage: twitter_friends2 username password\n”;

    exit;

}

 

my $username = $ARGV[0];

my $password = $ARGV[1];

 

my $dbh;

my $sql;

 

getConnected();

 

 

my $friends = “friends”;

my $followers = “followers”;

my $target_followers = “target_followers”;

 

# ==== download friends, followers and target’s followers list

system(”curl -u $username:$password http://twitter.com/friends/ids/$username.xml >$friends.xml”);

system(”curl -u $username:$password http://twitter.com/followers/ids/$username.xml >$followers.xml”);

 

# ==== clean data tables

$sql =”DELETE FROM friends”;

executesql($sql);

$sql =”DELETE FROM followers”;

executesql($sql);

$sql =”DELETE FROM nonfollowers”;

executesql($sql);

 

# ==== load data to tables

importIDs($friends);

importIDs($followers);

 

# ==== find non following

$sql = “INSERT INTO nonfollowers (id_nonfollowers) “. 

 ”SELECT id_followers FROM followers WHERE id_followers NOT IN “. 

 ”(SELECT id_friends FROM friends)”;

executesql($sql);

 

# follow the friends you are not following now

add();

 

disConnected();

 

# END OF MAIN PROGRAM

 

 

 

#############################################

#

# add friends who do not follow you in the past

#

sub add {

my $sql = “SELECT * FROM nonfollowers”;

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);

$sth->execute();

my $id;

$sth->bind_columns(\$id);

while ($sth->fetch()) {

system(”curl -X POST -u $username:$password http://twitter.com/friendships/create/$id.xml >/dev/null”);

my $sql1 = “DELETE FROM nonfollowers where id_nonfollowers=$id”;

my $sth1 = $dbh->prepare($sql1);

$sth1->execute();

$sth1->finish();

}

 

$sth->finish();

}

 

 

#############################################

#

# remove friends who do not follow you

#

sub remove2 {

my $sql = “SELECT * FROM friends”;

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);

$sth->execute();

my $id;

$sth->bind_columns(\$id);

while ($sth->fetch()) {

system(”curl -X POST -u $username:$password http://twitter.com/friendships/destroy/$id.xml >/dev/null”);

my $sql1 = “DELETE FROM friends where id_friends=$id”;

my $sth1 = $dbh->prepare($sql1);

$sth1->execute();

$sth1->finish();

}

 

$sth->finish();

}

 

#############################################

#

# execute a SQL statement

#

sub executesql {

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($_[0]);

$sth->execute();

$sth->finish();

}

 

#############################################

#

# import data to table

#

sub importIDs {

my $tablename = $_[0];

open(DAT, “$tablename.xml”) || die(”Could not open file!”);

my @lines=<DAT>;

close(DAT);

 

my $sth;

my $nIDs = 0;

foreach (@lines) {

my $id = $_;

$id =~ m/<id>([\d]*)<\/id>/;

if (defined($1)) {

my $sql = “INSERT INTO $tablename (id_$tablename) values ($1);”;

$sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);

$sth->execute();

$nIDs ++;

}

}

 

$sth->finish();

 

unlink “$tablename.xml”;

return $nIDs;

}

 

#############################################

#

# connect to database and generate a handle

#

sub getConnected {

# return the database handle object to the caller

 

# Set the parameter values for the connection

#——————————-

my $host=”localhost”;

my $connectionInfo = “DBI:mysql:db_twitter;$host”;

my $databaseUser = “your database username”;

my $databasePw = “your database password”;

 

# Connect to the database

# Note this connection can be used to 

# execute more than one statement

# on any number of tables in the database

#——————————-

$dbh = DBI->connect($connectionInfo, $databaseUser, 

   $databasePw) || die “Connect failed: $DBI::errstr\n”;    

}

 

######################################

#

# disconnect the database handle

#

sub disConnected {

$dbh->disconnect();

}