How can I extract and use user input in my Python Discord bot?

Other Questions Discord bot
1

I’m trying to create a Discord bot in Python that can take user input after a specific command and use it. For instance, if a user types ‘!info 123’, I want the bot to only respond with ‘123’ in the channel.

I’ve attempted using message.content, but it’s not working as expected. The bot keeps spamming and includes the command in its response. Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

@bot.event
async def on_message(msg):
    if msg.content.startswith('!info'):
        await bot.send_message(msg.channel, msg.content)

This code doesn’t work right. It keeps sending messages and shows the whole command. How can I fix this to only get the part after the command and use it once? Any tips would be really helpful. Thanks!

2

I’ve faced similar issues when developing Discord bots. Here’s a solution that should work for you:

Use the split() method to separate the command from the input. Then, you can access the input part using indexing. Also, to prevent the bot from spamming, you should add a check to ensure it doesn’t respond to its own messages.

Here’s an improved version of your code:

@bot.event
async def on_message(msg):
    if msg.author == bot.user:
        return

    if msg.content.startswith('!info'):
        user_input = msg.content.split(' ', 1)[1]
        await msg.channel.send(user_input)

This code will extract everything after '!info ’ and send it as a response. It also includes a check to prevent the bot from responding to itself. Hope this helps!

3

As someone who’s been tinkering with Discord bots for a while, I can tell you that handling user input can be tricky at first. Here’s a neat trick I’ve learned:

Instead of using on_message, consider using Discord.py’s command framework. It’s much cleaner and easier to manage. Here’s how you could do it:

from discord.ext import commands

bot = commands.Bot(command_prefix='!')

@bot.command()
async def info(ctx, *, arg):
    await ctx.send(arg)

This approach automatically handles the command prefix and splits the arguments for you. It’s more efficient and less prone to errors. Plus, it gives you built-in error handling and help command generation.

Just remember to call bot.run(your_token) at the end of your script. This method has saved me countless headaches when dealing with user input in my bots.

4

yo, i had the same problem before. try this:

@bot.command()
async def info(ctx, *, stuff):
await ctx.send(stuff)

it grabs everything after ‘!info’ and sends it back. way easier than messing with message.content. hope it helps!