Quizlet Termscraper

Input a list of terms --> Scrape quizlet for definitions to each term --> Output a markdown file.

I used this program to help automate my 1279 AP US History terms that I had to do for summer homework going into my Junior year of high school.

• Python packages selenium, numpy, re, random, time, and sys are required to run.

quizlet_termscraper_webdriver.py

Scrapes quizlet for a list of terms. Uses selenium webdriver. Outputs a markdown file, which can later be converted to a pdf. Run with:

cat terms | awk '{$1=$1};1' | python quizlet_termscraper_webdriver.py driver_address course_name prioritize_definitions_method maximum_number_of_definitions > terms_definitions.md

where:

• terms is a list of terms. See samples/terms.txt for reference.
• driver_address is the filepath to Selenium Chrome Web Driver. The Chrome Web Driver can be downloaded at (https://chromedriver.chromium.org/downloads). Note that Chrome Driver version must match the version of Chrome installed on the computer. This argument is necessary.
• course_name is the name of the course for which terms relates to (in my case, A.P. United States History). Preferably, this argument is provided as the most commonly-used name for the course (APUSH). This argument is necessary (though you could provide it as ).
• prioritize_definitions_method is the method for prioritizing definitions found on various quizlet sites for a term; either long (to sort longer definitions first) or short (to sort shorter definitions first). This argument is necessary.
• maximum_number_of_definitions is the maximum number of definitions to output per term (-1 to output all definitions found). Defaults to -1. This argument is not necessary.
• terms_definitions.md is the output file. See samples/terms_definitions.md for reference.

quizlet_termscraper.sh

Bash script for running quizlet_termscraper_webdriver.py. Run with:

sh ~/quizlet_termscraper/quizlet_termscraper.sh output_directory software_directory termslist_prefix i course_name driver_address

where:

• output_directory is the directory to output the markdown file.
• software_directory is the directory in which quizlet_termscraper_webdriver.py is stored.
• termslist_prefix is the file prefix for the file containing the list of terms.
• i is an iterator used when running this program on multiple lists of terms.
• course_name is the same as the aforementioned course_name argument. The value provided here will be passed onto quizlet_termscraper_webdriver.py.
• driver_address is the same as the aforementioned driver_address argument. The value provided here will be passed onto quizlet_termscraper_webdriver.py.

change_maximum_number_of_definitions.py

This program changes the number of definitions displayed in the samples/terms_definitions.md file to something like what is displayed in samples/terms_definitions_filtered.md, which shows only a maximum of three terms. If I previously provided -1 as the maximum_number_of_definitions argument to quizlet_termscraper_webdriver.py, I can use this program to only display the top three definitions. This is useful for when a lot of terms have five or more (too many) definitions to read through. Run with:

cat quizlet_termscraper_output | python ~/quizlet_termscraper/change_maximum_number_of_definitions.py maximum_number_of_definitions > terms_definitions_filtered.md

where:

• quizlet_termscraper_output is the input file; that is, the markdown file that has too many definitions per term at the moment. See samples/terms_definitions.md for reference.
• maximum_number_of_definitions is the maximum number of definitions to display per term. I usually set this argument to 3.
• terms_definitions_filtered.md is the output file. See samples/terms_definitions_filtered.md for reference.

filter_pdf.sh

Bash script for running change_maximum_number_of_definitions.py. Using pandoc, this script also converts the markdown files into PDF format using latex; delete line 24 if you want to remove this functionality. Run with:

sh ~/Desktop/Coding/quizlet_termscraper/filter_pdf.sh output_directory software_directory i

where:

• output_directory is the directory to output the filtered markdown file.
• software_directory is the directory in which change_maximum_number_of_definitions.py is found.
• i is an iterator used when running this program on multiple lists of terms.

runner.sh

Bash script to run everything that has been mentioned so far together. Run with:

sh ~/Desktop/Coding/quizlet_termscraper/runner.sh output_directory software_directory termslist_prefix course_name driver_address

where:

• output_directory is the same as the aforementioned output_directory argument.
• software_directory is the same as the aforementioned software_directory argument.
• termslist_prefix is the same as the aforementioned termslist_prefix argument (see quizlet_termscraper.sh section).
• course_name is the same as the aforementioned course_name argument.
• driver_address is the same as the aforementioned driver_address argument.

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Hopefully you find this program as useful as I did. Best of luck!