User:Anadolocan/Sandbox/API:backlinks

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.9

GET Request to list pages that link to a given page, similar to Special:Whatlinkshere.

API documentation

list=backlinks (bl) (main | query | backlinks) This module requires read rights. This module can be used as a generator. Source: MediaWiki License: GPL-2.0-or-later Find all pages that link to the given page. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Backlinks Specific parameters: Other general parameters are available. bltitle Title to search. Cannot be used together with blpageid. blpageid Page ID to search. Cannot be used together with bltitle. Type: integer blcontinue When more results are available, use this to continue. More detailed information on how to continue queries can be found on mediawiki.org. blnamespace The namespace to enumerate. 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, 486, 487, 710, 711, 828, 829, 1198, 1199, 2600, 5500, 5501 To specify all values, use *. bldir The direction in which to list. One of the following values: ascending, descending Default: ascending blfilterredir How to filter for redirects. If set to nonredirects when blredirect is enabled, this is only applied to the second level. One of the following values: all, nonredirects, redirects Default: all bllimit How many total pages to return. If blredirect is enabled, the limit applies to each level separately (which means up to 2 * bllimit results may be returned). Type: integer or max The value must be between 1 and 500. Default: 10 blredirect If linking page is a redirect, find all pages that link to that redirect as well. Maximum limit is halved. Type: boolean (details) Examples: Show links to MediaWiki. api.php?action=query&list=backlinks&bltitle=MediaWiki [open in sandbox] Get information about pages linking to MediaWiki. api.php?action=query&generator=backlinks&gbltitle=MediaWiki&prop=info [open in sandbox]

Examples

Example 1: Show links to Main page.

GET Request

Find all redirect pages that link or redirect to the en:Main Page

api.php?action=query&list=backlinks&bltitle=Main%20Page&bllimit=5&blfilterredir=redirects [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
    "batchcomplete": "",
    "continue": {
        "blcontinue": "4|2124921",
        "continue": "-||"
    },
    "query": {
        "backlinks": [
            {
                "pageid": 217224,
                "ns": 0,
                "title": "Mainpage",
                "redirect": ""
            },
            {
                "pageid": 217225,
                "ns": 0,
                "title": "Main page",
                "redirect": ""
            },
            ...
        ]
    }
}

Sample code

backlinks.py

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
	backlinks.py

	MediaWiki Action API Code Samples
	Demo of `Backlinks` module: Find all redirect pages that link or redirect to a page
	MIT license
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

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

TITLE = "Main Page"

PARAMS = {
	'action': "query",
	'list': "backlinks",
	'bltitle': TITLE,
	'bllimit': 5,
	'blfilterredir': "redirects",
	'format': "json"
}

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

print(DATA)

Example 2: Links through redirects.

MediaWiki version:

1.12

When the blredirect parameter is set, this module behaves slightly differently. bllimit applies to both levels separately: if e.g. bllimit=10, at most 10 first-level pages (pages that link to bltitle) and 10 second-level pages (pages that link to bltitle through a redirect) will be listed. Continuing queries also works differently, as displayed in the following example.

GET Request

Get a list of pages linking to Albert Einstein (note: the initial query includes a "blcontinue" parameter for purposes of illustration)

api.php?action=query&list=backlinks&bltitle=Albert_Einstein&blredirect&blcontinue=0 [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

Response

{ "batchcomplete":"", "continue":{ "blcontinue":"0|8756|0|Einstein|0|12511", "continue":"-||" }, "query":{ "backlinks":[ { "pageid":8756, "ns":0, "title":"Daniel Dennett" }, { "pageid":9247, "ns":0, "title":"Epistemology" }, { "pageid":9251, "ns":0, "title":"Engineering" }, { "pageid":9292, "ns":0, "title":"Einstein", "redirect":"", "redirlinks":[ { "pageid":736, "ns":0, "title":"Albert Einstein" }, { "pageid":2792, "ns":0, "title":"Anthropic principle" }, ... ] }, ... ] } }

Sample code

links_through_redirect.py

Sample code

#!/usr/bin/python3 """ links_through_redirect.py MediaWiki Action API Code Samples Demo of `Backlinks` module: Get a list of pages linking to Albert Einstein MIT license """ import requests S = requests.Session() URL = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php" TITLE = "Albert_Einstein" PARAMS = { 'action': "query", 'list': "backlinks", 'bltitle': TITLE, 'blredirect': "", 'blcontinue': "0|8756", 'format': "json" } R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS) DATA = R.json() print(DATA)

Continuing the previous request

When continuing this request, we see that there are more pages linking to Einstein, and that some of the other first-level pages are listed again. If we continue this query again, the same first-level pages will be listed in the next response, as well. To progress beyond Energy, we have to query-continue again and again until we've had all links to Einstein (or increase bllimit, of course).

In order to query-continue, we need to get the new intervals from the previous query response (i.e. "blcontinue":"0|8756|0|Einstein|0|12511" translates into a new GET request having the blcontinue field set to 8756|12511).

Possible errors

Code	Info
blbadcontinue	Invalid continue param. You should pass the original value returned by the previous query.

Additional notes

• Links through transclusions

If you need to list pages as they appear in "What links here" on the MediaWiki sites with pages transcluding the desired page, you might want to try API:Embeddedin list.

• Links through image usage

If you need to list pages as they appear in "What links here" on the MediaWiki sites with pages displaying the desired file, you might want to try API:Imageusage list. This also works on non-existent files.

See also

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:What_links_here

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Special:MyLanguage/API:Query_-_Lists

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:SpecialWhatlinkshere.php