API:Allcategories

This page is part of the MediaWiki Action API documentation.

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.12

GET request to list all {{ll|Help:Categories|categories}} that fit certain criteria relating to their titles.

This module can be used as a {{ll|API:Query#Generators|generator}}.

API documentation

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

Special:ApiHelp/query+allcategories

Example

GET request

Get a list of all categories, starting from "15th-century caliphs".

api.php?action=query&format=json&acfrom=15th-century%20caliphs&list=allcategories [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
    {
    "batchcomplete": "",
    "continue": {
        "accontinue": "15th-century_churches_in_Denmark",
        "continue": "-||"
    },
    "query": {
        "allcategories": [
            {
                "*": "15th-century caliphs"
            },
            {
                "*": "15th-century calligraphers"
            },
            {
                "*": "15th-century card games"
            },
            ...
        ]
    }
}

Sample code

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    get_allcategories.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Allcategories` module: Get all categories, starting from a
    certain point, as ordered by category title.

    MIT License
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

URL = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"

PARAMS = {
    "action": "query",
    "format": "json",
    "list": "allcategories",
    "acfrom": "15th-century caliphs"
}

R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS)
DATA = R.json()

CATEGORIES = DATA["query"]["allcategories"]

for cat in CATEGORIES:
    print(cat["*"])

PHP

<?php
/*
    get_allcategories.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Allcategories` module: Get all categories, starting from a certian point, as ordered by category title.

    MIT License
*/

$endPoint = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
$params = [
    "action" => "query",
    "format" => "json",
    "list" => "allcategories",
    "acfrom" => "15th-century caliphs"
];

$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 );

foreach( $result["query"]["allcategories"] as $k => $v ) {
    echo( $v["*"] . "\n" );
}

JavaScript

/*
    get_allcategories.js

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Allcategories` module: Get all categories, starting from a certain point, as ordered by category title.

    MIT License
*/

var url = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"; 

var params = {
    action: "query",
    format: "json",
    list: "allcategories",
    acfrom: "15th-century caliphs"
};

url = url + "?origin=*";
Object.keys(params).forEach(function(key){url += "&" + key + "=" + params[key];});

fetch(url)
    .then(function(response){return response.json();})
    .then(function(response) {
        var categories = response.query.allcategories;
        for (var cat in categories) {
            console.log(categories[cat]["*"]);
        }
    })
    .catch(function(error){console.log(error);});

MediaWiki JS

/*
	get_allcategories.js

	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `Allcategories` module: Get all categories,
	starting from a certian point, as ordered by category title.

	MIT License
*/

var params = {
		action: 'query',
		format: 'json',
		list: 'allcategories',
		acfrom: '15th-century caliphs'
	},
	api = new mw.Api();

api.get( params ).done( function ( data ) {
	var categories = data.query.allcategories,
		cat;
	for ( cat in categories ) {
		console.log( categories[ cat ][ '*' ] );
	}
} );

Additional notes

This module differs from list=allpages&alnamespace=14 in that categories without descriptions will be listed, while redirects and pages where the category was never used will not.

The response may include categories that were previously used but have since been deleted.

Because the response may include categories that are deleted or otherwise empty, it is recommended to filter the list using acmin=1, so as to only return categories containing one or more members.