The `import telebot` statement in Python is used to import the `telebot` module, which is a part of the `pyTelegramBotAPI` library, allowing developers to write programs that interact with Telegram's Bot API in a straightforward and Pythonic way.
Before you can use `import telebot` in your code, you need to install the `pyTelegramBotAPI` package. You can do this using `pip`, the package installer for Python, like so:
```sh
pip install pyTelegramBotAPI
```
Once installed, the `import telebot` statement makes all the functions and classes provided by the `telebot` module available in your Python script. This module contains the necessary tools to create a Telegram bot, such as the `TeleBot` class that represents the bot itself, methods to listen for messages, and functions to send messages, photos, stickers, and more.
Here's a simple example of using `pyTelegramBotAPI` to create a basic bot that replies to every message it receives:
```python
import telebot
# Replace 'YOUR_BOT_TOKEN' with your bot's API token provided by BotFather
TOKEN = 'YOUR_BOT_TOKEN'
bot = telebot.TeleBot(TOKEN)
# Handler for messages with the content that matches '/start' or '/help'
@bot.message_handler(commands=['start', 'help'])
def send_welcome(message):
bot.reply_to(message, "How can I help you?")
# Handlers can also be used to respond to any message
@bot.message_handler(func=lambda m: True)
def echo_all(message):
bot.reply_to(message, message.text)
# Polling method to constantly check for updates
bot.polling()
```
In this script, the bot uses a polling method to listen for new messages and will automatically reply with "How can I help you?" when it receives a '/start' or '/help' command. For all other messages, it will echo back the text it received.
Remember that to run the code and keep the bot active, you'll need to execute the script and maintain it running on a server or a local machine. If the script stops or exits for any reason, the bot will no longer be able to respond.