Wikipydia

07 Oct. 2009

I have begun work on a python module for interfacing with the wikipedia API. This is a 0.1 release and covers the gist of what I need to use for wikitrans. The module is available here.

Finding possible matches for an article name works like:

>>> import wikipydia
>>> articles_found = wikipydia.opensearch('Johns Hopkins University')
>>> for name in articles_found[1]:
...     print name
... 
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University Press
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Johns Hopkins University Hospital
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins University SAIS
Johns Hopkins University School of Education
Johns Hopkins University in Popular Culture
Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School

Finding language alternatives for articles:

>>> lang_dict = wikipydia.query_language_links('Johns Hopkins University')
>>> for lang in lang_dict:
...     print '%s :: %s' % (lang, lang_dict[lang])
... 
el :: Πανεπιστήμιο Τζονς Χόπκινς
eo :: Johns Hopkins Universitato
de :: Johns Hopkins University
fr :: Université Johns-Hopkins
da :: Johns Hopkins University
fa :: دانشگاه جانز هاپکینز
ar :: جامعة جونز هوبكينز
cs :: Johns Hopkins University
fi :: Johns Hopkinsin yliopisto
es :: Universidad Johns Hopkins

It's also possible to fetch the actual text in either rendered form or wikimarkup

>>> wikimarkup_text = wikipydia.query_text_raw('Dennis')
>>> print wikimarkup_text
'''Dennis''' or '''Denis''' is a male [[given name|first name]] derived from
the [[Greco-Roman]] name [[Dionysius]] meaning "servant of
[[Dionysus]]", the [[Thracian]] god of [[wine]], which is ultimately derived
from the Greek Dios (Διός, "of [[Zeus]]") combined with [[Nysa|Nysos or
Nysa]] (Νυσα), where the young god was raised.
...

>>> rendered_text = wikipydia.query_text_rendered('Dennis')
>>> print rendered_text
<p><b>Dennis</b> or <b>Denis</b> is a male <a href="/wiki/Given_name"
title="Given name">first name</a> derived from the <a
href="/wiki/Greco-Roman" title="Greco-Roman" class="mw-redirect">
Greco-Roman</a> name <a href="/wiki/Dionysius" title="Dionysius">
Dionysius</a> meaning "servant of <a href="/wiki/Dionysus"
title="Dionysus">Dionysus</a>", the <a href="/wiki/Thracian" title="Thracian"
class="mw-redirect">Thracian</a> god of <a href="/wiki/Wine" title="Wine">
wine</a>, which is ultimately derived from the Greek Dios (Διός, "of <a
href="/wiki/Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a>") combined with <a
href="/wiki/Nysa" title="Nysa">Nysos or Nysa</a> (Νυσα), where the young
god was raised.</p>
...