finalfantasy

pywikibot, often called simply "bot", is the main tool the wiki uses to make mass edits. pywikibot takes commands from the user and responds by making the appropriate edits using MediaWiki's API. pywikibot is written in Python, a cross-platform programming language.

Use on the FFWiki

Intangir Bot

All automated edits on the Final Fantasy Wiki are done on . This causes the accounts to be hidden from Recent Changes unless ?hidebots=0 is appended to the URL. This is to keep Recent Changes usable rather than being spammed with tiny edits that the average user isn't affected by.

While other bot accounts, such as Wikia, exist, pywikibot edits are made with Intangir Bot. This is done for a number of reasons, including to keep all bot edits easily trackable and to not have to deal with the hassle of creating a new bot flag every time a new user needs to use a bot. If you need to use Intangir Bot, request access at Requests for Promotion. If anybody is caught misusing the bot, their edits will be reverted and the password will be changed.

If you need to make automated edits but do not know how to use pywikibot or have the password to Intangir Bot, leave a message on its userpage and one of its operators will complete the job within the next few days.

Installation

See #Scripts for information about setting up Python and using cd in the command line.

Once Python is installed you'll need pywikibot. The wiki's modified version of pywikibot can be downloaded from github. Once that is done you can simply run: 

python login.py

It will then ask you for Intangir Bot's password. Once that is entered you will be logged in, and can run any other script.

If you don't want to use the customized pywikibot -- for example, you want to use pywikibot on multiple wikis, or you use Python 2.5.*, which doesn't support the latest pywikibot (therefore you'll need to run the "Compat" version), see Installation and click on your OS for further instructions.

Settings

Aside from having family files already set up, the python scripts downloadable from github also have several changes made in user-config.py. This is a list of all of the changes made for the FFWiki. 

# The dictionary usernames should contain a username for each site where you
# have a bot account.
usernames['ffwiki']['en'] = u'Intangir Bot'
sysopnames['ffwiki']['en'] = u'Catuse167'

This declares the default bot account to be Intangir Bot and the admin account to be Catuse167. Note that Intangir Bot has admin rights, but this is only so it can edit protected pages; it will not make admin edits (e.g. deletion) unless sysopnames is set to u'Intangir Bot'. This should only be done if the wiki, including an admin, has a consensus to do so. Hiding mass deletions from the Recent Changes is always a bad idea. If you are an admin and want to make admin edits, you should set sysop names to u'You'. You will be prompted for a password when you try to run a script that requires admin permissions. 

# How many external links should weblinkchecker.py check at the same time?
# If you have a fast connection, you might want to increase this number so
# that slow servers won't slow you down.
max_external_links = 50
report_dead_links_on_talk = True

Affects weblinkchecker.py. There's little need to change max_external_links because the wiki has comparatively few external links. The second variable causes the bot to list dead links on a talk page if they are down after running the script several times. 

#Enable cosmetic_changes.py, which will run alongside all other pywikipedia scripts
cosmetic_changes = True

Causes cosmetic_changes.py to be used.

Scripts

To run anything you need to use a Python 2.7.* interpreter from your OS's command line. To bring up the command line:

One in the command line, one must enter the python command to check if you have Python; if you don't you will get an error message. If you don't have Python:

Once Python is installed you'll need to get into the directory containing all of your scripts. You do this using the cd command. Most terminals, including Windows' Command Prompt, start in your home directory (C:/Users/You, ~/home/You, etc), so if your intangirbot folder is in a "Wiki work" folder in your Desktop, you would type: 

cd "Desktop/Wiki work/intangirbot"

In all OSes except Windows, you can run a python script by typing: 

python <name_of_script>.py -<parameter1> -<parameter2> -<parameter3>...

Most installations of Python on Windows do not have you type "python" at the beginning of the command. So: 

<name_of_script>.py -<parameter1> -<parameter2> -<parameter3>...

So, for example, to run delete.py with the parameters cat:"Articles for Speedy Deletion", pt:0, and always, you would type: 

python delete.py -cat:"Articles for Speedy Deletion" -always -pt:0

Once the bot is running it will occasionally ask for user input, in which case it will pause editing. Once every page has been edited the python script will exit out and the command line will come up again. This is a screen shot of the MATE Terminal, finishing up a script, Ctrl + C'ing out of a second, and then starting a third.

The following is a list of scripts useful to the Final Fantasy Wiki, organized by how they are used. This isn't a complete list of pywikibot scripts. That can be viewed at MediaWiki; however, many of these scripts can only be used on Wikimedia or are simply irrelevant to the Final Fantasy Wiki, and most scripts are poorly documented.

Textual editing

These scripts will make mass edits to the text of the wiki. Usually for relinking, implementing a new template, and the like.

add_text.py

python add_text.py <parameter> -text:"<text to be added>" [-up] [-except:"<regex>"] -pt:0 -always

This script adds text to the bottom of a group of pages. The group of pages is determined by a parameter given in the command line when you call the script. The script has two other optional parameters:

revertbot.py

python revertbot.py

The script to run when you dun goofed. Reverts all edits the bot made until cancelled with Ctrl + C or by closing the window. You can also log in as yourself and revert edits you made, if you did something wrong. Never run this script unattended!

template.py

python template.py "<name of old template>" "<name of new template>" -pt:0 -always

A script for renaming templates, it will replace all instances of {{name of old template}} on the wiki with {{name of new template}}. 

python template.py "<name of old template>" -remove -pt:0 -always

Removes the template {{name of old template}} and all its parameters from every page on the wiki.

Maintenance

These should usually be run on a regular basis, perhaps bimonthly, as they check the entire wiki for technical problems and fix them.

cosmetic_changes.py

python cosmetic_changes.py -start:! -pt:0 -always

A script that cleans up syntax and formatting in wikitext. This is useful especially because of the VisualEditor, which can create unnecessary spacing or HTML. It runs alongside all other scripts, and if it found any changes to be made, "; cosmetic changes" will be added to the edit summary.

This script can be run by itself, but because it doesn't make any changes that are visible to readers, this puts unnecessary stress on the servers, and should only be done for testing.

Once the script has made some edits successfully, press Ctrl + C to cancel execution and end your test edits.

interwiki.py

A complex script that handles interwiki language links. At its simplest you can type 

python interwiki.py "<pagename>"

where <pagename> is some page that has interwiki links. It will then check those interwiki links, and the interwiki links on those pages, etc., and compile a list of all pages across all wikis that it could find that interwiki to each other. After that, any of the following cases can happen

  1. If ffwiki:en (the wiki you're currently reading) doesn't link to one it will add that link with the other interwiki links at the bottom of the page.
  2. If it finds that ffwiki:en has an interwiki link to a page that doesn't exist, it will throw an error asking you to allow it to remove it.
  3. If it finds that there is more than one page in a given language about a certain subject (common with disambigs) it also throws an error and asks you to fix it by hand.

Once all this is said and done, it will give you WARNING: messages regarding missing interwiki links in other languages. For example: 

======Post-processing ======
No changes needed on page WARNING: ffwiki: does not link to

It will then allow you to fix these by hand.

This is all great if you just created a new page, added an interwiki to a single other language (say, ffwiki:es), and want to automatically generate interwiki links to every other language that FFWiki is written in. However, pywikibot, being primarily used for mass edits, can also edit hundreds or even thousands of pages at once. 

python interwiki.py -start:! -autonomous -pt:0 -always
python interwiki.py -cat:"<category>" -autonomous -pt:0 -always

These Selection Parameters should be familiar: the former checks every single article on ffwiki:en, while the latter checks a certain category, perhaps a category about a release that just came out and doesn't have complete interwiki links yet. It only makes edits of case 1 (adding a simple interwiki) and lists all case 2 and case 3 (removing an interwiki, choosing between multiple interwikis) in a file called autonomous_problems.dat. If the bot is canceled halfway through editing with Ctrl + C, it leaves a file called interwiki.dump behind. You can pick up where you left off with 

python interwiki.py -restore -autonomous -pt:0 -always

and go through the case 2 and case 3 problems from a previous run by hand with 

python interwiki.py -file:autonomous_problems.dat

Finally, you can use the logfile, logs/interwiki.log, to create interwikis on other language wikis such as ffwiki:es or ffwiki:fr which point back to ffwiki:en. After running you can 

python interwiki.py -warnfile:logs/interwiki.log -autonomous -pt:0 -always

while logged into another wiki. This generates links from ffwiki:<some language> to ffwiki:en if links from ffwiki:en to ffwiki:<some language> exist already and were noted when the script was run originally. However, it might not be advisable to run this script unless you were given permission to do so by the admins of that wiki (which can be difficult, because of the language barrier.

There are many, many other features usable by interwiki.py, most of which could not be documented here. See MediaWiki for a complete documentation

selflink.py

python selflink.py -start:!

Goes through the wiki and finds pages that link to themselves. Will ask the user what to do with them. Will take very long to run, because while it checks dozens of pages a minute, it has to cover the entire wiki.

table2wiki.py

python table2wiki.py "<page name>" -pt:0
python table2wiki.py -start:! -pt:0

Turns all of the tables on the pages searched from HTML into wikitext. Should never be run with -always because there are legitimate reasons to use HTML tables on the wiki, and the script is somewhat buggy. This means the user will need to check each table by hand before the edit is completed.

redirect.py

python redirect.py both -pt:0

A simple script that manages redirects. It will fix double or triple redirects and delete broken redirects (if you have an admin account) or ask you what to do with them (if you don't).

Categories

One script that manages categories.

category.py

This single script manages categories, and has many different functions. A full documentation can be viewed at MediaWiki, but a summary of the most common functions used on the FFWiki follows. 

python category.py add <parameter> -pt:0 -always

Gets a list of all the pages that fits the parameter passed to it, then asks you for a category name, and adds every page in the list to that category. 

python category.py remove -pt:0 -always

Asks you for a category name, and then removes all the pages in it from it. 

python category.py move -from:"[category name]" -to:"[category name]" -pt:0 -always

Moves all pages from the first category into the second category. If you have admin access, deletes the old category. Otherwise, make sure to use {{delete}} to mark it for deletion so an admin can delete it.

Notifications

Similar to maintenance scripts, these scripts should be run on a regular basis. However, they do not fix the problems they find, only tagging them for a human editor to find and clean up.

lonelypages.py

python lonelypages.py

Puts {{cleanup|Needs to be linked to}} on all pages that are not linked to by the wiki.

weblinkchecker.py

python weblinkchecker.py -start:!

Creates a file, deadlinks-ffwiki-end.dat on in your deadlinks/ directory that lists all pages with external links that return 404s or other error messages. Because it has to check thousands of pages, this script takes very long to run. 

python weblinkchecker.py -repeat

Opens deadlinks/deadlinks-ffwiki-end.dat and checks all of the pages in it, updating it if any links have been fixed. If a week has passed since this script has run and the external links still return 404, it puts a warning message on the talk pages telling other editors to fix the broken links.

Administration

These scripts require sysop access, and should not be run unless you actually are a sysop and making the edits on your account (NOT Intangir Bot), or have been given permission in a discussion to do so (which is frowned upon, because if you make an accidental deletion and the edits are hidden from the Recent Changes, nobody will notice).

delete.py

python delete.py <parameter> -summary:"<summary>" -pt:0 -always

Deletes all of the pages that fulfill a certain parameter using sysop access.

Mostly useful with -file, for example when given a list of abandoned walkthroughs or unused files. -cat:"Articles for Speedy Deletion" purges the Articles for Speedy Deletion, but this can delete images that are still linked to on pages, plus pages that transclude {{delete}} templates, and so this is bad practice. You should also make sure to give a summary, so when another user checks the deletion log he can actually know why you deleted dozens of pages. 

python delete.py undelete <parameter> -summary:"<summary>"-pt:0 -always

This command, almost always invoked using the -file parameter, recreates pages that were deleted. Just like revertbot.py, but for deletions.

protect.py

python protect.py <parameter> -edit:"<protection level>" -move:"<protection level>" -summary:"<summary>" -pt:0 -always

Protects all of the pages that fulfill a certain parameter using sysop access. The protection levels are sysop, autoconfirmed, and none. -edit affects the ability to edit the text of that page, while -move affects the ability to rename it. The loosest protection for editing is none (except for MediaWiki pages, which are always designer-level and cannot be affected by this script), and the loosest possible protection for moving is autoconfirmed.

Best used to fight vandalism: if a returning sockpuppeteer attacks the same category of pages over and over, they can simply be raised to autoconfirmed-level until the vandal gets bored and leaves. Then it can be reset to none.

Parameters

Parameters, also known as arguments or options, are the modifiers that allow the user to tell pywikibot what pages to edit, what edit summary to leave, and other minor details that vary from task to task. For example, consider the following command: 

python add_text.py -catr:"Final Fantasy Wikians" -text:"{{RailModule|title=Facts|content=This user is a great editor!}}" -up -except:"{{RailModule|Thanks for editing the Final Fantasy Wiki!" -ns:2 -summary:"Thanks for editing!" -pt:0 -always

This is a somewhat complex example, so let's break this down step by step and see what each bit of text does:

Note that if you need to use " inside a parameter, or | inside a RegEx, you can use the escape sequences \" or \|. This causes Python to ignore the fact that there's a " or | and continue working. Other useful escape sequences are \n (newline), \t (tab) and \\ (backslash).

The following is a list of all parameters used by multiple scripts. Some scripts have their own parameters, or even "commands", which do not start with a dash (for example, category.py).

Selection Parameters

These parameters tell the bot what pages it needs to edit.

Other Parameters