API:Query

The action=query module allows for retrieving all sorts of data, and is loosely based on the now obsolete Query API. action=query is also used to retrieve tokens needed for editing and the like.

The query module has many submodules (called query modules), each with a different function. There are three types of query modules:
 * Meta information about the wiki and the logged-in user
 * Properties of pages, including page revisions and content
 * Lists of pages that match certain criteria

Query modules can be combined freely, so you can use e.g.  to call six modules in one request.

Apart from query modules, action=query also has some features of its own.

Sample query
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, here's a useful sample query that simply gets the content of a page:

api.php?action=query&prop=revisions&rvprop=content&format=xml&titles=Main%20Page

This means fetch (action=query) the content (rvprop=content) of the most recent revision of Main Page (title=Main%20Page) in XML format (format=xml).

Alternatively, you can use action=raw as a parameter to index.php to get the content of a page: index.php?title=Main%20Page&action=raw

Specifying titles
You can specify titles in the following ways:
 * Using the  parameter, e.g.
 * Using the  parameter, e.g.
 * Using the  parameter, e.g.
 * Most query modules will use the page the revision ID belongs to. Only prop=revisions actually uses the revision ID itself
 * Using a generator

Specifying titles through the query string is limited to 50 titles per query (or 500 for those with the  right, usually bots and sysops).

Title normalization
Title normalization converts page titles to their canonical form. This means capitalizing the first character, replacing underscores with spaces, etc. Title normalization is done automatically, regardless of which query modules are used. However, any trailing line breaks in page titles (\n) will cause odd behavior and they should be stripped out first.

Missing and invalid titles
Titles that don't exist or are invalid still appear in the  section, but they have the   or   attribute set. In output formats that support numeric array keys (such as JSON and PHP serialized), missing and invalid titles will have unique, negative page IDs. Query modules will just ignore missing or invalid titles, as they can't do anything useful with them.

Titles in the Special: and Media: namespaces
Currently, titles in the Special: and Media: namespaces cannot be queried. If any such titles are found in the  parameter or passed to a module by a generator, a warning will be issued.

Resolving redirects
Redirects can be resolved automatically, so that the target of redirect is returned instead of the given title. The example below isn't really useful because it doesn't use any query modules, but shows how the  parameter works. Both normalization and redirection may take place. In case of double redirects, all redirects will be resolved, and in case of a circular redirect, there might not be a page in the 'pages' section (see also below). Redirect resolution cannot be used in combination with the  parameter or with a generator generating revids; doing that will produce a warning and will not resolve redirects for the specified revids.

Circular redirects
Assume Page1 &rarr; Page2 &rarr; Page3 &rarr; Page1 (circular redirect). Also, in this example a non-normalized name 'page1' is used.

Limits
See here for more information on limits.

Continuing queries
Very often, you will not get all the data you want in one request. To continue the request, you can use the provided  value.

You can now use  to get the next ten categories.

The  node will contain a subnode for each module used in the query that needs continuation, and these subnodes will contain properties to be used when making the followup "continuation" query. Note that clients should not be depending on the particular property names given for continuation of any module or the format of the values returned for continuation, as these may change.

When using a generator, you might get multiple  values, one for the generator and one or more for the 'regular'   modules used. In this case you need to continue the 'regular' modules first (with the old values of the generator's continuation properties) until they run out, and only then continue the generator. The generator's continuation properties may be identified because they belong to the query module being used as a generator and will begin with a 'g'.

Continuation example
Consider an initial query [//www.mediawiki.org/w/api.php?action=query&titles=API:Main_page&generator=categories&prop=categories|links&gcllimit=2&cllimit=1], which as a contrived example uses the  module as both the generator and as a prop module. This will return a  something like this: Note that continuation is returned for both the  module and the   module as both the generator and as a prop module. You would add  (for links) and   (for categories as a prop module) to your query, while ignoring for now   because it belongs to the generator module and begins with a 'g'.

The followup query [//www.mediawiki.org/w/api.php?action=query&titles=API:Main_page&generator=categories&prop=categories|links&gcllimit=2&cllimit=1&clcontinue=6418|MediaWiki_for_site_admins&plcontinue=6418|14|Manual/cs] would then return something like this: Continuing with continuation, you might eventually get a response like this: At this point you may remove  from the   list since there is no longer any continuation property being returned for it, or you may leave it in there while continuing to use the last value received for. Do not retain  in   while removing , as then you will start receiving all the   results all over again.

Eventually a query will return only the generator continuation: Now, finally, you go back to your original query and add  to get the next set of results from the generator, and repeat the process of continuation as necessary until no   is returned at all.

Getting a list of page IDs
With the  parameter, you'll get a list of all page IDs listed in the   element. This is particularly useful for formats like JSON in which the pages array has numeric indexes.

Exporting pages
You can export pages through the API with the  parameter. If the  parameter is set, an XML dump of all pages in the   element will be added to the result. The  parameter only gives a result when used with specified titles (Generator, titles, pageids or revid). Note that the XML dump will be wrapped in the requested format; if that format is XML, characters like &lt; and &gt; will be encoded as entities (&amp;lt; and &amp;gt;) If the  parameter is also set, only the XML dump (not wrapped in an API result) will be returned.

See also: Importing pages

Generators
With generators, you can use the output of a list instead of the  parameter. The output of the list must be a list of pages, whose titles are automatically used instead of the,   or   parameter. Other query modules will treat those pages as if they were provided by the user through the  parameter. Only one generator is allowed. List modules that don't list pages, can't be used as a generator. Some prop modules can also be used as a generator.

Parameters passed to a generator must be prefixed with a. For instance, when using, use   instead of.

It should also be noted that generators only pass page titles to the 'real' query, and can't output any information themselves. Setting parameters like  will therefore have no effect.

Generators and redirects
Here, we use prop=links as a generator. This query will get all the links from all the pages that are linked from Title. For this example, assume that Title has links to TitleA and TitleB. TitleB is a redirect to TitleC. TitleA links to TitleA1, TitleA2, TitleA3; and TitleC links to TitleC1 and TitleC2. Redirect are solved because the  parameter is set.

The query will execute the following steps:
 * 1) Resolve redirects for titles in the   parameter
 * 2) For all the titles in the   parameter, get the list of pages they link to
 * 3) Resolve redirects in that list
 * 4) Run the prop=links query on that list of titles

More generator examples

 * Show info about 4 pages starting at the letter "T"
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&generator=allpages&gaplimit=4&gapfrom=T&prop=info


 * Show content of first 2 non-redirect pages beginning at "Re"
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&generator=allpages&gaplimit=2&gapfilterredir=nonredirects&gapfrom=Re&prop=revisions&rvprop=content

Possible warnings

 * No support for special pages has been implemented
 * Thrown if a title in the Special: or Media: namespace is given
 * Redirect resolution cannot be used together with the revids= parameter. Any redirects the revids= point to have not been resolved.
 * Note that this can also be caused by a generator that generates revids