Make a terminal-based newsreader

Creating a terminal-based newsreader can be done in Python using libraries like requests for fetching news from an API and curses or simple print statements for terminal display. Here’s a simple but functional example using the free NewsAPI (https://newsapi.org/) to fetch headlines and display them in the terminal.

python
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import requests

API_KEY = "YOUR_NEWSAPI_KEY"  # You need to get a free API key from https://newsapi.org/
NEWS_API_URL = "https://newsapi.org/v2/top-headlines"
COUNTRY = "us"  # Change to your preferred country code

def fetch_news():
    params = {
        'apiKey': API_KEY,
        'country': COUNTRY,
        'pageSize': 10  # Number of news articles to fetch
    }
    response = requests.get(NEWS_API_URL, params=params)
    if response.status_code == 200:
        data = response.json()
        return data.get('articles', [])
    else:
        print(f"Failed to fetch news: {response.status_code}")
        return []

def display_news(articles):
    print("nTop News Headlines:n")
    for i, article in enumerate(articles, 1):
        print(f"{i}. {article['title']}")
    print("nEnter the number of the article to read more or 'q' to quit:")

def read_article(articles, index):
    article = articles[index]
    print("n" + "="*80)
    print(f"Title: {article['title']}")
    print(f"Author: {article.get('author', 'Unknown')}")
    print(f"Source: {article['source']['name']}")
    print(f"Published At: {article['publishedAt']}")
    print("n" + article.get('description', 'No description available.') + "n")
    print(f"Read more: {article['url']}")
    print("="*80 + "n")
    input("Press Enter to return to the list...")

def main():
    articles = fetch_news()
    if not articles:
        print("No articles to display.")
        return

    while True:
        display_news(articles)
        choice = input("> ").strip()
        if choice.lower() == 'q':
            print("Goodbye!")
            break
        if choice.isdigit():
            idx = int(choice) - 1
            if 0 <= idx < len(articles):
                read_article(articles, idx)
            else:
                print("Invalid selection. Try again.")
        else:
            print("Invalid input. Enter a number or 'q' to quit.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

How it works:

• Fetches top 10 headlines from NewsAPI for a specified country.

• Lists headlines in the terminal.

• User inputs a number to read the article summary and more details.

• User can quit anytime with q.

Before running:

• Register for a free API key at https://newsapi.org/

• Replace "YOUR_NEWSAPI_KEY" with your actual API key.

• Run with Python 3.

Would you like me to extend this with features like category selection, pagination, or offline caching?