random imgur downloader

random_imgur.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import os
import sys
import random
import time
from urllib2 import Request, urlopen, URLError, HTTPError

CHARS = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghiklmnopqrstuvwxyz"

# functions
def rand_string(string_length):
    return ''.join(random.choice(CHARS) for _ in xrange(string_length))

def get_images(num_pics):
	path = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), '/output')
		
	if not os.path.exists(path):
		os.makedirs(path)
	print 'saving to: ' + path

	for k in xrange(num_pics):
		good = False
		while not good:
			img_name = rand_string(5)
			url = "http://i.imgur.com/" + img_name + ".jpg"
			req = Request(url)
			
			try:
				f = urlopen(req)
				print "downloading " + url
				with open(os.path.join(path, img_name, '.jpg'), "wb") as local_file):
					local_file.write(f.read())
			except HTTPError, e:
				print "HTTP Error:",e.code , url
				print 'trying again...'
			except URLError, e:
				print "URL Error:",e.reason , url
				print 'trying again...'
			else:
				good = True

if __name__ == '__main__':
	start_time = time.time()

	# syntax: random_imgur.py <how_many>; defaults to 5 if no input
	HOW_MANY = int(sys.argv[1]) if len(sys.argv) > 1 else 5
	
	print 'getting ' + str(HOW_MANY) + ' random pics'

	get_images(HOW_MANY)
	print 'done!'
	end_time = time.time()
	print 'completed in: ' + str(round(end_time - start_time, 2)) + ' seconds'