Twitter Search API Method: search

Page history last edited by Alex Payne 1 mo ago

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search

Returns tweets that match a specified query.

method status | report a bug

 

URL:

http://search.twitter.com/search.format

 

Formats: 

json, atom 

 

HTTP Method:

GET

 

Requires Authentication (about authentication):

false

 

API rate limited (about rate limiting):

1 call per request

 

Parameters:

 

Usage Notes:

  • Query strings should be URL encoded.
  • Queries are limited 140 URL encoded characters.
  • Some users may be absent from search results.
  • The since_id parameter will be removed from the next_page element as it is not supported for pagination. If since_id is removed a warning will be added to alert you.
  • This method will return an HTTP 404 error if since_id is used and is too old to be in the search index.
  • If you are having trouble constructing your query, use the advanced search form to construct your search, then add the format. For example http://search.twitter.com/search?q=twitter would become http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=twitter
  • Applications must have a meaningful and unique User Agent when using this method. A HTTP Referrer is expected but not required. Search traffic that does not include a User Agent will be rate limited to fewer API calls per hour than applications including a User Agent string.

 

Example queries:

 

Search operators:

     Most search operators can be used with API queries.

 

Boolean operators:

 

Operator Limits:

  • since: and until operators:
    • since: will return a HTTP 404 if it is too old
    • until: cannot be in the future
    • since: and until: do not accept the negation (-) operation
  • filter:links operator:
    • results are limited to 7 days
  • source: operator:
    • results are limited to 7 days
    • queries must contain at least one keyword parameter with the source: operator
  • lang= operator:
    • results are limited to 7 days
  • location operator:
    • results are limited to 7 days
  • near:
    • cannot be used in API search
  • geocode:
    • does not support disjunction (OR)

 

Response (about return values):

Warning: The user ids in the Search API are different from those in the REST API (about the two APIs). This defect is being tracked by Issue 214. This means that the to_user_id and from_user_id field vary from the actualy user id on Twitter.com. Applications will have to perform a screen name-based lookup with the users/show method to get the correct user id if necessary.

 

          JSON example (truncated):

{"results":[

     {"text":"@twitterapi  http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ctrefg",

     "to_user_id":396524,

     "to_user":"TwitterAPI",

     "from_user":"jkoum",

     "id":1478555574,   

     "from_user_id":1833773,

     "iso_language_code":"nl",

     "source":"<a href="http:\/\/twitter.com\/">twitter<\/a>",

     "profile_image_url":"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/twitter_production\/profile_images\/118412707\/2522215727_a5f07da155_b_normal.jpg",

     "created_at":"Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:22:10 +0000"},

     ... truncated ...],

     "since_id":0,

     "max_id":1480307926,

     "refresh_url":"?since_id=1480307926&q=%40twitterapi",

     "results_per_page":15,

     "next_page":"?page=2&max_id=1480307926&q=%40twitterapi",

     "completed_in":0.031704,

     "page":1,

     "query":"%40twitterapi"}

}

 

Usage examples: 

cURL (about cURL):

curl http://search.twitter.com/search.json?q=%40twitterapi

 

          Do you have an example to share in the language of your choice? Please share!

 

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