instaloader/README.rst

Instaloader
===========

Tool to automatically download pictures (or videos) of given profiles
from Instagram.

Installation
------------

Instaloader is written in Python, thus ensure having
`Python <https://www.python.org/>`__ (at least version 3.5) installed.

If you intend to use this tool under Windows, it is recommended
to install
`win-unicode-console <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/win_unicode_console>`__.

If you have `pip <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip>`__ installed, you
may install Instaloader using

::

    pip3 install instaloader

Alternatively, to get the most current version of Instaloader from our
`Git repository <https://github.com/Thammus/instaloader>`__:

::

    pip3 install git+https://github.com/Thammus/instaloader

(pass ``--upgrade`` to upgrade if Instaloader is already installed)

Instaloader requires
`requests <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/requests>`__, which
will be installed automatically, if it is not already installed.

How to automatically download pictures from Instagram
-----------------------------------------------------

To **download all pictures and videos of a profile**, as well as the
**profile picture**, do

::

    instaloader profile [profile ...]

where ``profile`` is the name of a profile you want to download. Instead
of only one profile, you may also specify a list of profiles.

To later **update your local copy** of that profiles, you may run

::

    instaloader --fast-update profile [profile ...]

When ``--fast-update`` is given, Instaloader stops when arriving at
the first already-downloaded picture.

Instaloader can also be used to **download private profiles**. To do so,
invoke it with

::

    instaloader --login=your_username profile [profile ...]

When invoked like this, it also **stores the session cookies** in a file
in your temporary directory, which will be reused later when ``--login`` is given. So
you can download private profiles **non-interactively** when you already
have a valid session cookie file.

You may also download
**the most recent pictures by hashtag**:

::

    instaloader "#hashtag"

If you want to **download all followees of a given profile**, call

::

    instaloader --login=your_username @profile

To **download all the pictures from your feed which you have liked**, call

::

    instaloader --login=your_username :feed-liked

or to **download all pictures from your feed**:

::

    instaloader --login=your_username :feed-all

Advanced Options
----------------

The following flags can be given to Instaloader to specify how profiles should
be downloaded.

--fast-update        Stop when encountering the first already-downloaded post
                     of a profile.
--profile-pic-only   Only download profile pictures. Without this flag, the current
                     profile picture and all the profile's posts are downloaded.
--skip-videos        Skip posts which are videos.
--geotags            Also **download geotags** and store Google Maps links in
                     separate textfiles.
--count COUNT        If used with ``#hashtag``, ``:feed-all`` or
                     ``:feed-liked``: Do not attempt to download more than COUNT
                     posts.
--quiet              Do not output any messages except warnings and errors. This
                     option makes Instaloader **suitable as a cron job**.
--no-sleep           Normally, Instaloader waits a few seconds between requests
                     to the Instagram servers. This flag inhibits this behavior.
--password PASSWORD  If used with ``--login``, use parameter as password if no
                     valid session file is found, instead of asking
                     interactively.
--sessionfile FILE   Specify an alternative place for loading and storing the
                     session cookies. Without this flag, they are stored in a path
                     within your temporary directory, encoding your local
                     username and your instagram profile name.
--no-profile-subdir  Instead of creating a subdirectory for each profile and
                     storing pictures there, store pictures in files named
                     'PROFILE__DATE_TIME.jpg.'
--hashtag-username   When downloading by #hashtag, lookup the picture's username
                     to decide in which directory to store, rather than storing
                     all pictures in directory '#hashtag'.

To get a list of all flags, run ``instaloader --help``.

Usage as Python module
----------------------

You may also use parts of Instaloader as library to do other interesting
things.

For example, to get a list of all followees of a profile as well as
their follower count, do

.. code:: python

    import instaloader

    # Get instance
    loader = instaloader.Instaloader()

    # Login
    loader.interactive_login(USERNAME)

    # Retrieve followees
    followees = loader.get_followees(PROFILE)
    for f in followees:
        print("%i\t%s\t%s" % (f['follower_count'], f['username'], f['full_name']))

Then, you may download all pictures of all followees with

.. code:: python

    for f in followees:
        try:
            loader.download(f['username'])
        except instaloader.NonfatalException:
            pass

You could also download your last 20 liked pics with

.. code:: python

    oader.download_feed_pics(max_count=20, fast_update=True,
                             filter_func=lambda node:
                                   not node["likes"]["viewer_has_liked"] if "likes" in node else not node["viewer_has_liked"])

To download the last 20 pictures with hashtag #cat, do

.. code:: python

    loader.download_hashtag('cat', max_count=20)

Each Instagram profile has its own unique ID which stays unmodified even
if a user changes his/her username. To get said ID, given the profile's
name, you may call

.. code:: python

    loader.get_id_by_username(PROFILE_NAME)

``get_followees()`` also returns unique IDs for all loaded followees. To
get the current username of a profile, given this unique ID
``get_username_by_id()`` can be used. For example:

.. code:: python

    loader.get_username_by_id(followees[0]['id'])