API:Categorymembers

This page is part of the MediaWiki Action API documentation.

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.11

GET request to list pages that belong to a given category.

API documentation

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

Special:ApiHelp/query+categorymembers

Example 1: List twenty pages in a category

GET request

api.php?action=query&list=categorymembers&cmtitle=Category:Physics&cmlimit=20 [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
	"api": {
		"query-continue": {
			"categorymembers": {
				"_cmcontinue": "subcat|44594e414d494353|10998823"
			}
		},
		"query": {
			"categorymembers": {
				"cm": [
					{
						"_pageid": "22688097",
						"_ns": "0",
						"_title": "Branches of physics"
					},
					{
						"_pageid": "3445246",
						"_ns": "0",
						"_title": "Glossary of classical physics"
					},
					{
						"_pageid": "24489",
						"_ns": "0",
						"_title": "Outline of physics"
					},
					...
				]
			}
		}
	}
}

Sample code

get_category_items.py

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    get_category_items.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : List twenty items in a category

    MIT License
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

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

PARAMS = {
    "action": "query",
    "cmtitle": "Category:Physics",
    "cmlimit": "20",
    "list": "categorymembers",
    "format": "json"
}

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

PAGES = DATA['query']['categorymembers']

for page in PAGES:
    print(page['title'])

PHP

<?php
/*
    get_category_items.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : List twenty items in a category

    MIT License
*/

$endPoint = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
$params = [
    "action" => "query",
    "list" => "categorymembers",
    "cmtitle" => "Category:Physics",
    "cmlimit" => "20",
    "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 );

foreach( $result["query"]["categorymembers"] as $pages ){
    echo( $pages["title"] . "\n" );
}

JavaScript

/*
    get_category_items.js

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : List twenty items in a category

    MIT License
*/

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

var params = {
    action: "query",
    list: "categorymembers",
    cmtitle: "Category:Physics",
    cmlimit: "20",
    format: "json"
};

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 pages = response.query.categorymembers;
        for (var page in pages) {
            console.log(pages[page].title);
        }
    })
    .catch(function(error){console.log(error);});

MediaWiki JS

/*
	get_category_items.js

	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `Categorymembers` module : List twenty items in a category

	MIT License
*/

var params = {
		action: 'query',
		list: 'categorymembers',
		cmtitle: 'Category:Physics',
		cmlimit: '20',
		format: 'json'
	},
	api = new mw.Api();

api.get( params ).done( function ( data ) {
	var pages = data.query.categorymembers,
		page;
	for ( page in pages ) {
		console.log( pages[ page ].title );
	}
} );

Example 2: Get the ten articles most recently added to a category

GET request

api.php?action=query&list=categorymembers&cmtitle=Category:Physics&cmsort=timestamp&cmdir=desc [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
	"api": {
		"query-continue": {
			"categorymembers": {
				"_cmcontinue": "Magnetic levitation|"
			}
		},
		"query": {
			"categorymembers": {
				"cm": [
					{
						"_pageid": "1653925",
						"_ns": "100",
						"_title": "Portal:Physics"
					},
					{
						"_pageid": "22939",
						"_ns": "0",
						"_title": "Physics"
					},
					{
						"_pageid": "3445246",
						"_ns": "0",
						"_title": "Glossary of classical physics"
					},
					...
				]
			}
		}
	}
}

Sample code

get_recent_category_items.py

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    get_recent_category_items.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get the ten articles most recently added to a category

    MIT License
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

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

PARAMS = {
    "cmdir": "desc",
    "format": "json",
    "list": "categorymembers",
    "action": "query",
    "cmtitle": "Category:Physics",
    "cmsort": "timestamp"
}

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

PAGES = DATA["query"]["categorymembers"]

for page in PAGES:
    print(page["title"])

PHP

<?php
/*
    get_recent_category_items.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get the ten articles most recently added to a category

    MIT License
*/

$endPoint = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
$params = [
    "action" => "query",
    "list" => "categorymembers",
    "cmtitle" => "Category:Physics",
    "cmsort" => "timestamp",
    "cmdir" => "desc",
    "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 );

foreach( $result["query"]["categorymembers"] as $page ) {
    echo( $page["title"] . "\n" );
}

JavaScript

/*
    get_recent_category_items.js

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get the ten articles most recently added to a category

    MIT License
*/

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

var params = {
    action: "query",
    list: "categorymembers",
    cmtitle: "Category:Physics",
    cmsort: "timestamp",
    cmdir: "desc",
    format: "json"
};

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 pages = response.query.categorymembers;
        for (var page in pages) {
            console.log(pages[page].title);
        }
    })
    .catch(function(error){console.log(error);});

MediaWiki JS

/*
	get_recent_category_items.js

	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get the ten articles most recently added to a category

	MIT License
*/

var params = {
		action: 'query',
		list: 'categorymembers',
		cmtitle: 'Category:Physics',
		cmsort: 'timestamp',
		cmdir: 'desc',
		format: 'json'
	},
	api = new mw.Api();

api.get( params ).done( function ( data ) {
	var pages = data.query.categorymembers,
		page;
	for ( page in pages ) {
		console.log( pages[ page ].title );
	}
} );

Example 3: Get ten subcategories of a category

GET request

api.php?action=query&list=categorymembers&cmtitle=Category:Wikipedia&cmtype=subcat [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
	"api": {
		"query-continue": {
			"categorymembers": {
				"_cmcontinue": "subcat|57494b4950454449412050454f504c45|41491664"
			}
		},
		"query": {
			"categorymembers": {
				"cm": [
					{
						"_pageid": "1458692",
						"_ns": "14",
						"_title": "Category:Wikipedias by language"
					},
					{
						"_pageid": "22918730",
						"_ns": "14",
						"_title": "Category:Books about Wikipedia"
					},
					{
						"_pageid": "16957584",
						"_ns": "14",
						"_title": "Category:Critics of Wikipedia"
					},
					...
				]
			}
		}
	}
}

The next subcategories (if there're more than 10) can be continued using the cmcontinue parameter from the response above.

Sample code

get_subcategories.py

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    get_subcategories.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get ten subcategories of a category

    MIT License
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

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

PARAMS = {
    "action": "query",
    "cmtitle": "Category:Wikipedia",
    "cmtype": "subcat",
    "list": "categorymembers",
    "format": "json"
}

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

PAGES = DATA["query"]["categorymembers"]

for page in PAGES:
    print(page["title"])

PHP

<?php
/*
    get_subcategories.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get ten subcategories of a category

    MIT License
*/

$endPoint = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
$params = [
    "action" => "query",
    "list" => "categorymembers",
    "cmtitle" => "Category:Wikipedia",
    "cmtype" => "subcat",
    "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 );

foreach( $result["query"]["categorymembers"] as $cat ) {
    echo( $cat["title"] . "\n");
}

JavaScript

/*
    get_subcategories.js

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get ten subcategories of a category

    MIT License
*/

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

var params = {
    action: "query",
    list: "categorymembers",
    cmtitle: "Category:Wikipedia",
    cmtype: "subcat",
    format: "json"
};

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 category = response.query.categorymembers;
        for (var cat in category) {
            console.log(category[cat].title);
        }
    })
    .catch(function(error){console.log(error);});

MediaWiki JS

/*
	get_subcategories.js

	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `Categorymembers` module : Get ten subcategories of a category

	MIT License
*/

var params = {
		action: 'query',
		list: 'categorymembers',
		cmtitle: 'Category:Wikipedia',
		cmtype: 'subcat',
		format: 'json'
	},
	api = new mw.Api();

api.get( params ).done( function ( data ) {
	var category = data.query.categorymembers,
		cat;
	for ( cat in category ) {
		console.log( category[ cat ].title );
	}
} );

Possible errors

Code	Info
cmnotitle	The parameter cmtitle is required.
cminvalidcategory	The category name you entered is not valid.
cmbadcontinue	Invalid continue param. You should pass the original value returned by the previous query.

Parameter history

v1.24: Deprecated cmstartsortkey, cmendsortkey
v1.18: Introduced cmstartsortkeyprefix, cmendsortkeyprefix
v1.17: Introduced sortkeyprefix, type
v1.14: Introduced cmstartsortkey, cmendsortkey
v1.12: Introduced cmtype,cmstart, cmend, cmdir

API documentation

Example 1: List twenty pages in a category

GET request

Response

Sample code

Python

PHP

JavaScript

MediaWiki JS

Example 2: Get the ten articles most recently added to a category

GET request

Response

Sample code

Python

PHP

JavaScript

MediaWiki JS

Example 3: Get ten subcategories of a category

GET request

Response

Sample code

Python

PHP

JavaScript

MediaWiki JS

Possible errors

Parameter history

See also