whatsapp-chat-parser/README.md

A package to parse WhatsApp chats with Node.js or in the browser 💬

# WhatsApp Chat Parser

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> A package to parse WhatsApp chats with Node.js or in the browser 💬

# Introduction

This library allows you to parse WhatsApp chat logs from text format into javascript objects, enabling you to more easily manipulate the data, create statistics, export it in different formats, etc.

You can test the package online with this example website:  
[whatsapp-chat-parser.netlify.app](https://whatsapp-chat-parser.netlify.app/) ([Source code](https://github.com/Pustur/whatsapp-chat-parser-website))

## Install

```
$ npm install whatsapp-chat-parser
```

## Usage

### Node

```javascript
const fs = require('fs');
const whatsapp = require('whatsapp-chat-parser');

const fileContents = fs.readFileSync('path/to/file.txt', 'utf8');

whatsapp
  .parseString(fileContents)
  .then(messages => {
    // Do whatever you want with messages
  })
  .catch(err => {
    // Something went wrong
  });
```

### Browser

Add the script to your HTML file (usually just before the closing `</body>` tag).  
Then use it in your JavaScript code, the `whatsappChatParser` variable will be globally available.

```html
<script src="path/to/whatsapp-chat-parser.min.js"></script>
<script>
  whatsappChatParser
    .parseString('06/03/2017, 00:45 - Sample User: This is a test message')
    .then(messages => {
      // Do whatever you want with messages
    })
    .catch(err => {
      // Something went wrong
    });
</script>
```

You can also use the [jsDelivr CDN](https://www.jsdelivr.com/package/npm/whatsapp-chat-parser).

```html
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/whatsapp-chat-parser/dist/whatsapp-chat-parser.min.js"></script>
<!-- Or use a specific version -->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/whatsapp-chat-parser@3.2.1/dist/whatsapp-chat-parser.min.js"></script>
```

&nbsp;

The `messages` variable is an array of objects like this:

```javascript
[
  {
    date: '2018-06-02T22:45:00.000Z', // Date object
    author: 'Luke',
    message: 'Hey how are you?',
  },
  {
    date: '2018-06-02T23:48:00.000Z', // Date object
    author: 'Joe',
    message: 'All good, thanks',
  },
];
```

When using the option [`parseAttachments`](#options), the message may contain an additional property `attachment`:

```javascript
[
  {
    date: '2018-06-02T23:50:00.000Z', // Date object
    author: 'Joe',
    message: '<attached: 00000042-PHOTO-2020-06-07-15-13-20.jpg>',
    attachment: {
      fileName: '00000042-PHOTO-2020-06-07-15-13-20.jpg',
    },
  },
];
```

In the case of a system message, the author will be `System`

```javascript
[
  {
    date: '2018-06-02T22:45:00.000Z', // Date object
    author: 'System',
    message: 'You created group "Party 🎉"',
  },
];
```

## API

### parseString(string, [options]) → Promise

**string**

Type: `string`

Raw string of the WhatsApp conversation

**options**

Type: `object`

A configuration object, more details below

### parseStringSync(string, [options]) → Array

Same as `parseString` but returns the messages directly instead of a promise.

## Options

<!-- prettier-ignore-start -->
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| daysFirst | `Boolean` | `undefined` | Specify if the dates in your log file start with a day (`true`) or a month (`false`). Manually specifying this may improve performance. By default the program will try to infer this information using 3 different methods (look at [`date.ts`](src/date.ts) for the implementation), if all fails it defaults to days first. |
| parseAttachments | `Boolean` | `false` | Specify if attachments should be parsed. If set to `true`, messages with attachments will include an `attachment` property with information about the attachment. |
<!-- prettier-ignore-end -->

## How to export WhatsApp chats

- [Android](https://faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/how-to-save-your-chat-history)
- [iPhone](https://faq.whatsapp.com/iphone/chats/how-to-back-up-to-icloud/)

## Technologies used

- Language: [TypeScript](https://www.typescriptlang.org/)
- Testing: [Jest](https://jestjs.io/)
- Code formatting: [Prettier](https://prettier.io/)
- Linting: [ESLint](https://eslint.org/) (with [Airbnb rules](https://www.npmjs.com/package/eslint-config-airbnb-base))

## Requirements

### Node

`Node.js >= 8.0.0`

### Browser

This package is written in TypeScript with target compilation to ES6.  
It should work in all relevant browsers from ~2017 onwards.

## Changelog

[CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md)

## License

[MIT](LICENSE)