This program scrapes a specified section of Craigslist and automatically email all the authors of each post with a custom email message.

I wrote this program back in the summer of 2007 in order to look for a place in Newport Beach. The idea was to have people email me instead of the other way around and to make sure I would most likely be the first person on the deal.

Example:

$url: 
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/hhh?query=superior+newport+beach&minAsk=min&maxAsk=1350

$msg: 
Hi,

I just looked at your post on Craigslist and I'm very interested in the room. Would it be possible to have a look a it ASAP?

Thank you so much,

Alex Ksikes

and run it as:
python autocraig.py --report --auto $msg $url

This will email all the authors of each post scraped at the specified URL (--auto option). Here I'm looking for a room on superior in Newport Beach with maximum rent of $1350. The result of the scrapping is also sent to me in one email (--report option) for further scrutiny.

Email parameters are set in autocraig.conf. Duplicates are kept in autocraig.duplicates to make sure each author is emailed only once. The program can scrape deep to a chosen number of days or pages. Best used as a cron job. Use it with caution to avoid SPAM! (consider removing the --auto option)

I set it up on the following URLs as a cron job (and sporadically used the --auto option):

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/hhh?query=superior+newport+beach&minAsk=min&maxAsk=1350
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/hhh?query=hoag+newport+beach&minAsk=min&maxAsk=1350
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/hhh?query=ticonderoga&minAsk=min&maxAsk=1350
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/hhh?query=newport+crest&minAsk=min&maxAsk=1350

The irony of the story: I ended up renting the place accross the street!!