A posix script to find and watch youtube videos from the terminal. (With out API)

ytfzf

A POSIX script that helps you find youtube videos (with out API) and opens/downloads using mpv/youtube-dl.

• History support
• Download support
• Format selection ( with feature to choose default option )

Initially this used to be a single line script. But for portability and extensibility I am breaking my vow. If you still are here for the memes then use the line below.

#!/bin/sh
[ -z "$*" ] || curl "https://www.youtube.com/results" -s -G --data-urlencode "search_query=$*" |  pup 'script' | grep  "^ *var ytInitialData" | sed 's/^[^=]*=//g;s/;$//' | jq '..|.videoRenderer?' | sed '/^null$/d' | jq '.title.runs[0].text,.longBylineText.runs[0].text,.shortViewCountText.simpleText,.lengthText.simpleText,.publishedTimeText.simpleText,.videoId'| sed 's/^"//;s/"$//;s/\\"//g' | sed -E -n "s/(.{60}).*/\1/;N;s/\n(.{30}).*/\n\1/;N;N;N;N;s/\n/\t|/g;p" | column -t  -s "$(printf "\t")" | fzf --delimiter='\|' --nth=1,2  | sed -E 's_.*\|([^|]*)$_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\1_' | xargs -r -I'{}' mpv {}

Usage

Usage: ytfzf <search query>
     -h                    Show this help text
     -H                    Choose from history
     -D                    Delete history
     -m  <search query>    Audio only (for listening to music)
     -d  <search query>    Download to current directory
     -f  <search query>    Show available formats before proceeding

Select the video using fzf. It will search based on title and channel names.

Examples

Watch Youtube videos ( Default format : best video )

ytfzf <query>

• You use multiple options together, here are some examples

Download audio (music)

ytfzf -dm <query>

Download a video in your history

ytfzf -dH

Watch a video in your history in a different format

ytfzf -fH

Download a video in a certain format

ytfzf -fd  <query>

If you started watching a video and you wish to change format then first hit Q to save position and quit mpv, then choose your format using

ytfzf -fH

Dependencies

• mpv
• youtube-dl
• fzf - for menu
• jq - to parse json

To install Dependencies

Arch based

sudo pacman -S jq mpv youtube-dl fzf 

Debian based

sudo apt install jq mpv youtube-dl fzf 

Note youtube-dl is usually outdated in debian repos, I suggest getting it from

• youtube-dl github

Installation

Once you have all the dependencies

git clone https://github.com/pystardust/ytfzf
cd ytfzf
chmod +x ytfzf

Then you can move it to your path (optional)

sudo mv ytfzf /usr/local/bin/

Todo

• Fix the char encoding. (Without pup)
• Playlists