.. _getting-started:


===============
Getting Started
===============


Simple Installation
*******************

.. code-block:: sh

    pip3 install telethon

**More details**: :ref:`installation`


Creating a client
*****************

.. code-block:: python

    from telethon import TelegramClient

    # These example values won't work. You must get your own api_id and
    # api_hash from https://my.telegram.org, under API Development.
    api_id = 12345
    api_hash = '0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef'

    client = TelegramClient('session_name', api_id, api_hash)
    client.start()

**More details**: :ref:`creating-a-client`


Basic Usage
***********

.. code-block:: python

    # Getting information about yourself
    print(client.get_me().stringify())

    # Sending a message (you can use 'me' or 'self' to message yourself)
    client.send_message('username', 'Hello World from Telethon!')

    # Sending a file
    client.send_file('username', '/home/myself/Pictures/holidays.jpg')

    # Retrieving messages from a chat
    from telethon import utils
    for message in client.iter_messages('username', limit=10):
        print(utils.get_display_name(message.sender), message.message)

    # Listing all the dialogs (conversations you have open)
    for dialog in client.get_dialogs(limit=10):
        print(utils.get_display_name(dialog.entity), dialog.draft.text)

    # Downloading profile photos (default path is the working directory)
    client.download_profile_photo('username')

    # Once you have a message with .media (if message.media)
    # you can download it using client.download_media():
    messages = client.get_messages('username')
    client.download_media(messages[0])

**More details**: :ref:`telegram-client`

See :ref:`telethon-client` for all available friendly methods.


Handling Updates
****************

.. code-block:: python

    from telethon import events

    # We need to have some worker running
    client.updates.workers = 1

    @client.on(events.NewMessage(incoming=True, pattern='(?i)hi'))
    def handler(event):
        event.reply('Hello!')

    # If you want to handle updates you can't let the script end.
    input('Press enter to exit.')

**More details**: :ref:`working-with-updates`


----------

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