twitter-friends.rb

require 'rubygems'
require 'twitter'

# see https://github.com/sferik/twitter

def twitter_client
  Twitter::REST::Client.new do |config|
    config.consumer_key = "XXXXXX"
    config.consumer_secret = "XXXXXX"
    config.access_token = "XXXXXX"
    config.access_token_secret = "XXXXXX"
  end
end

def fetch_all_friends(twitter_username, max_attempts = 100)
  # in theory, one failed attempt will occur every 15 minutes, so this could be long-running
  # with a long list of friends
  num_attempts = 0
  client = twitter_client
  myfile = File.new("#{twitter_username}_friends_list.txt", "w")
  running_count = 0
  cursor = -1
  while (cursor != 0) do
    begin
      num_attempts += 1
      # 200 is max, see https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/get/friends/list
      friends = client.friends(twitter_username, {:cursor => cursor, :count => 200} )
      friends.each do |f|
        running_count += 1
        myfile.puts "\"#{running_count}\",\"#{f.name.gsub('"','\"')}\",\"#{f.screen_name}\",\"#{f.url}\",\"#{f.followers_count}\",\"#{f.location.gsub('"','\"').gsub(/[\n\r]/," ")}\",\"#{f.created_at}\",\"#{f.description.gsub('"','\"').gsub(/[\n\r]/," ")}\",\"#{f.lang}\",\"#{f.time_zone}\",\"#{f.verified}\",\"#{f.profile_image_url}\",\"#{f.website}\",\"#{f.statuses_count}\",\"#{f.profile_background_image_url}\",\"#{f.profile_banner_url}\""
      end
      puts "#{running_count} done"
      cursor = friends.next_cursor
      break if cursor == 0
    rescue Twitter::Error::TooManyRequests => error
      if num_attempts <= max_attempts
        cursor = friends.next_cursor if friends && friends.next_cursor
        puts "#{running_count} done from rescue block..."
        puts "Hit rate limit, sleeping for #{error.rate_limit.reset_in}..."
        sleep error.rate_limit.reset_in
        retry
      else
        raise
      end
    end
  end
end

fetch_all_friends("screen_name_of_twitter_user")