pdf-rss-dl

PDF RSS Downloader

This Python script downloads and exports RSS feed entries into PDF files. It checks if the entries have already been exported by referencing a downloaded.dat file to avoid duplicates. The script handles multiple date formats and ensures that the generated filenames are compatible with the filesystem.

Features

• RSS Feed Parsing: Parses RSS feeds from a list of URLs.
• PDF Export: Converts RSS entries (including title, link, publication date, and description) into PDF files.
• Duplicate Check: Keeps track of downloaded entries using downloaded.dat to prevent duplicate downloads.
• Filename Sanitization: Ensures filenames are safe and do not exceed OS limits by truncating and sanitizing them.
• Multiple Date Formats: Supports parsing of multiple date formats commonly found in RSS feeds.
• UTF-8 Character Handling: Handles special characters in RSS entries to avoid encoding issues.

Requirements

• Python 3.7 or higher
• fpdf library

You can install the required dependencies using pip:

pip install fpdf feedparser

Usage

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/thisisawesome1994/pdf-rss-downloader.git
cd pdf-rss-downloader

1. Prepare the RSS Feeds:

   • Create a rss_feeds.txt file in the root directory of the project.
   • Add the RSS feed URLs, one per line. Example:

https://example.com/rss
https://anotherexample.com/feed

1. Run the Script:

python app.py

1. Output:

• PDFs will be saved in the downloaded_pdfs directory, organized by feed title and year of publication.

1. Check Duplicates:

• The script logs downloaded entries in downloaded.dat to avoid processing the same entry multiple times.

Customization

• Filename Length: - The sanitize_filename function truncates filenames to a default of 100 characters. You can modify this value in the script if needed.
• Adding New Date Formats: - You can add more date formats to the parse_published_date function if your RSS feed uses a format not covered by the script.

Contributing

Feel free to submit issues or pull requests. Contributions are welcome!