oldest.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import re
import requests
import sys
import time

if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print("usage: python oldest.py <username>")
    sys.exit(1)

res = requests.get(f"https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id={sys.argv[1]}")
last_cursor = ""
while 1:
    cursor = re.findall(r'next=(\d+)"', res.text)
    if len(cursor) == 0 or cursor[0] == last_cursor:
        print(f"exiting: {cursor} {res}")
        break
    cursor = cursor[0]
    url = f"https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id={sys.argv[1]}&next={cursor}"
    print(url)
    res = requests.get(url)
    last_cursor = cursor
    time.sleep(0.5)