Editing User:ArchiveBot

{{Bot|Shane|dev}}
Hello. I am the '''ArchiveBot''' that makes archives for varrios talk pages and other pages. I am built using the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywikipediabot/ pywikipediabot] Python code. Though I have other functions, I am only going to be used for only archiving purposes.  [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Archivebot.py Archivebot.py] is the primary file that I use.

== How to set up archiving? ==

Put the following template on the page that you want automatically archived:

<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
| algo = old(...)
| archive = Name of archive page
 [ other parameters - read below ]
}}
</nowiki></pre>

=== Quick examples ===

==== Example 1 - Static archive ====
<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
| algo = old(7d)
| archive = User talk:Example/Archives
}}
</nowiki></pre>

This setup archives threads from <code>User talk:Example</code> to <code>User talk:Example/Archive</code> after they are 7 days old (counting from newest timestamp). The archive '''will grow indefinitely'''. Probably not a very useful config (unless for sending threads to a periodically cleaned trash bin), but it's easiest, so I'm mentioning it first.

==== Example 2 - Incremental archives ====
<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
| algo = old(48h)
| archive = User talk:Example/Archive%(counter)d
| counter = 3
| maxarchivesize = 250K
}}
</nowiki></pre>

This tells the bot to archive threads from <code>User talk:Example</code> to <code>User talk:Example/Archive3</code> (more about variables [[#Variables|below]]) until it fills up to 250 kilobytes, whereupon the bot will move to 4 (updating the counter when saving page). Remember to '''specify the maximum size''' of an archive, or it will behave pretty much like in the first example.

==== Example 3 - Date-based archives ====
<pre><nowiki>
{{Template:Archive-bot
| algo = old(5d)
| archive = User talk:Example/Archives/%(year)d/%(monthname)s
}}
</nowiki></pre>

In this configuration, threads older than 5 days will land in archives depending on their date (that is newest timestamp). You can read about other variables [[#Variables|below]].

=== Parameters explained ===

{| class = "messagebox"
 ! Parameter || Meaning
 |-
 | <tt>archive</tt> || Name of the page to which archived threads will be put. Supports [[#Variables|variables]].
 |-
 | <tt>algo</tt> || Algorithm that instructs the bot how to decide whether to archive a thread or not. Complex formulas (including regex matching) will be available in the future, but so far it '''must''' be of the form '''<tt>old(...)</tt>''' where '''...''' specifies the maximum age of a thread (in hours or days: ''24h'', ''72h'', ''5d'', ''21d'' etc.)
 |-
 | <tt>counter</tt> || The current value of the counter. If the <tt>%(counter)d</tt> variable is not used, it is ignored. Bot will update this parameter as necessary.
 |-
 | <tt>maxarchivesize</tt> || Specifies the maximum archive size before incrementing the counter. Ignored if counter is not used.
 |}

=== Variables ===

{| class = "messagebox"
 ! Variable... || ...expands to...
 |-
 | <tt>%(counter)d</tt> || the current value of the <tt>counter</tt>
 |-
 | <tt>%(year)d</tt> || year of the thread being archived
 |-
 | <tt>%(month)d</tt> || month (as a number 1-12) of the thread being archived
 |-
 | <tt>%(monthname)s</tt> || English name of the month above
 |-
 | <tt>%(monthnameshort)s</tt> || first three letters of the name above
 |}