API:Search

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This page is part of the MediaWiki Action API documentation.

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MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.11

GET request to perform an advanced search for wiki pages by title or content text match.

API documentation

The following documentation is the output of Special:ApiHelp/query+search, automatically generated by the pre-release version of MediaWiki that is running on this site (MediaWiki.org).

list=search (sr)

(main | query | search)

This module requires read rights.
This module can be used as a generator.
Source: MediaWiki
License: GPL-2.0-or-later

Perform a full text search.

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Search

Specific parameters:

Other general parameters are available.

srsearch

Search for page titles or content matching this value. You can use the search string to invoke special search features, depending on what the wiki's search backend implements.

This parameter is required.

srnamespace

Search only within these namespaces.

Values (separate with | or alternative): 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 90, 91, 92, 93, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 710, 711, 828, 829, 1198, 1199, 2600, 5500, 5501

To specify all values, use *.

Default: 0

srlimit

How many total pages to return.

Type: integer or max

The value must be between 1 and 500.

Default: 10

sroffset

When more results are available, use this to continue. More detailed information on how to continue queries can be found on mediawiki.org.

Type: integer

The value must be no less than 0.

Default: 0

srqiprofile

Query independent profile to use (affects ranking algorithm).

classic: Ranking based on the number of incoming links, some templates, page language and recency (templates/language/recency may not be activated on this wiki).
classic_noboostlinks: Ranking based on some templates, page language and recency when activated on this wiki.
empty: Ranking based solely on query dependent features (for debug only).
wsum_inclinks: Weighted sum based on incoming links
wsum_inclinks_pv: Weighted sum based on incoming links and weekly pageviews
popular_inclinks_pv: Ranking based primarily on page views
popular_inclinks: Ranking based primarily on incoming link counts
engine_autoselect: Let the search engine decide on the best profile to use.

One of the following values: classic, classic_noboostlinks, empty, engine_autoselect, popular_inclinks, popular_inclinks_pv, wsum_inclinks, wsum_inclinks_pv

Default: engine_autoselect

srwhat

Which type of search to perform.

One of the following values: nearmatch, text, title

srinfo

Which metadata to return.

Values (separate with | or alternative): rewrittenquery, suggestion, totalhits

Default: totalhits|suggestion|rewrittenquery

srprop

Which properties to return:

size: Adds the size of the page in bytes.
wordcount: Adds the word count of the page.
timestamp: Adds the timestamp of when the page was last edited.
snippet: Adds a snippet of the page, with query term highlighting markup.
titlesnippet: Adds the page title, with query term highlighting markup.
redirecttitle: Adds the title of the matching redirect.
redirectsnippet: Adds the title of the matching redirect, with query term highlighting markup.
sectiontitle: Adds the title of the matching section.
sectionsnippet: Adds the title of the matching section, with query term highlighting markup.
isfilematch: Adds a boolean indicating if the search matched file content.
categorysnippet: Adds the matching category name, with query term highlighting markup.
score: Deprecated. Ignored.
hasrelated: Deprecated. Ignored.
extensiondata: Adds extra data generated by extensions.

Values (separate with | or alternative): categorysnippet, extensiondata, isfilematch, redirectsnippet, redirecttitle, sectionsnippet, sectiontitle, size, snippet, timestamp, titlesnippet, wordcount, hasrelated, score

Default: size|wordcount|timestamp|snippet

srinterwiki

Include interwiki results in the search, if available.

Type: boolean (details)

srenablerewrites

Enable internal query rewriting. Some search backends can rewrite the query into another which is thought to provide better results, for instance by correcting spelling errors.

Type: boolean (details)

srsort

Set the sort order of returned results.

One of the following values: create_timestamp_asc, create_timestamp_desc, incoming_links_asc, incoming_links_desc, just_match, last_edit_asc, last_edit_desc, none, random, relevance, user_random

Default: relevance

Examples:

Search for meaning.: api.php?action=query&list=search&srsearch=meaning [open in sandbox]
Search texts for meaning.: api.php?action=query&list=search&srwhat=text&srsearch=meaning [open in sandbox]
Get page info about the pages returned for a search for meaning.: api.php?action=query&generator=search&gsrsearch=meaning&prop=info [open in sandbox]

GET request

api.php?action=query&list=search&srsearch=Nelson%20Mandela&utf8=&format=json [try in ApiSandbox]

Default search results are without UTF8 encoding. Replace utf8 in the get request above to see the difference.

Response

{
 "batchcomplete": "",
 "continue": {
 "sroffset": 10,
 "continue": "-||"
 },
 "query": {
 "searchinfo": {
 "totalhits": 5060
 },
 "search": [
 {
 "ns": 0,
 "title": "Nelson Mandela",
 "pageid": 21492751,
 "size": 196026,
 "wordcount": 23664,
 "snippet": "<span class=\"searchmatch\">Nelson</span> Rolihlahla <span class=\"searchmatch\">Mandela</span> (/mænˈdɛlə/, Xhosa: [xoliɬaˈɬa <span class=\"searchmatch\">manˈdɛla</span>]; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary,",
 "timestamp": "2018年07月23日T07:59:43Z"
 },
 {
 "ns": 0,
 "title": "Death of Nelson Mandela",
 "pageid": 41284488,
 "size": 133513,
 "wordcount": 13512,
 "snippet": "On December 5, 2013, <span class=\"searchmatch\">Nelson</span> <span class=\"searchmatch\">Mandela</span>, the first President of South Africa to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, as well as the country's",
 "timestamp": "2018年07月19日T17:30:59Z"
 }
 ...
 ]
 }
}

Sample code

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3
"""
 search.py
 MediaWiki API Demos
 Demo of `Search` module: Search for a text or title
 MIT License
"""
import requests
S = requests.Session()
URL = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"
SEARCHPAGE = "Nelson Mandela"
PARAMS = {
 "action": "query",
 "format": "json",
 "list": "search",
 "srsearch": SEARCHPAGE
}
R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS)
DATA = R.json()
if DATA['query']['search'][0]['title'] == SEARCHPAGE:
 print("Your search page '" + SEARCHPAGE + "' exists on English Wikipedia")

PHP

<?php
/*
 search.php
 MediaWiki API Demos
 Demo of `Search` module: Search for a text or title
 MIT License
*/
$searchPage = "Nelson Mandela";
$endPoint = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
$params = [
 "action" => "query",
 "list" => "search",
 "srsearch" => $searchPage,
 "format" => "json"
];
$url = $endPoint . "?" . http_build_query( $params );
$ch = curl_init( $url );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
$output = curl_exec( $ch );
curl_close( $ch );
$result = json_decode( $output, true );
if ($result['query']['search'][0]['title'] == $searchPage){
 echo("Your search page '" . $searchPage . "' exists on English Wikipedia" . "\n" );
}

JavaScript

/*
 search.js
 MediaWiki API Demos
 Demo of `Search` module: Search for a text or title
 MIT License
*/
varurl="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
varparams=newURLSearchParams({
action:"query",
list:"search",
srsearch:"Nelson Mandela",
format:"json",
origin:location.origin
});
fetch(`${url}?${params}`)
.then(function(response){returnresponse.json();})
.then(function(response){
if(response.query.search[0].title==="Nelson Mandela"){
console.log("Your search page 'Nelson Mandela' exists on English Wikipedia");
}
})
.catch(function(error){console.log(error);});

MediaWiki JS

/*
	search.js
	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `Search` module: Search for a text or title
	MIT License
*/
varparams={
action:'query',
list:'search',
srsearch:'Nelson Mandela',
format:'json'
},
api=newmw.Api();
api.get(params).done(function(data){
if(data.query.search[0].title==='Nelson Mandela'){
console.log("Your search page 'Nelson Mandela' exists on English Wikipedia");
}
});

Possible errors

Code	Info
nosrsearch	The `srsearch` parameter must be set. This was param-search before 1.17
search-text-disabled	`text` search is disabled.
search-title-disabled	`title` search is disabled.
search-error	search error has occurred

Parameter history

v1.24: Deprecated score,hasrelated
v1.23:
- Removed srredirects. Redirects are always included.
- Introduced srinterwiki
v1.22: Introduced srbackend
v1.17: Introduced nearmatch, score, titlesnippet, redirecttitle, redirectsnippet, sectiontitle, sectionsnippet, hasrelated
v1.16: Introduced srinfo, srprop

Additional notes

Depending on which search backend is in use, how srsearch is interpreted may vary. On Wikimedia wikis which use CirrusSearch, see Help:CirrusSearch for information about the search syntax.