API:RecentChanges

This page is part of the MediaWiki Action API documentation.

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.9

GET request to list all the recent changes to the wiki, in the same manner as Special:RecentChanges lists them.

API documentation

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

Special:ApiHelp/query+recentchanges

Example

GET request

Get the 3 most recent changes with sizes and flags

api.php?action=query&list=recentchanges&rcprop=title|ids|sizes|flags|user&rclimit=3 [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
    "batchcomplete": "",
    "continue": {
        "rccontinue": "20180330090522|1041353210",
        "continue": "-||"
    },
    "query": {
        "recentchanges": [
            {
                "type": "edit",
                "ns": 0,
                "title": "Histology",
                "pageid": 13570,
                "revid": 833218500,
                "old_revid": 833218201,
                "rcid": 1041353213,
                "user": "Iztwoz",
                "oldlen": 25718,
                "newlen": 25749
            }
            ...
        ]
    }
}

Sample code

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    get_recent_changes.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `RecentChanges` module: Get the three most recent changes with
    sizes and flags

    MIT License
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

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

PARAMS = {
    "format": "json",
    "rcprop": "title|ids|sizes|flags|user",
    "list": "recentchanges",
    "action": "query",
    "rclimit": "3"
}

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

RECENTCHANGES = DATA['query']['recentchanges']

for rc in RECENTCHANGES:
    print(str(rc['title']))

PHP

<?php
/*
    get_recent_changes.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `RecentChanges` module: Get the three most recent changes with sizes and flags

    MIT License
*/

$endPoint = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";
$params = [
    "action" => "query",
    "list" => "recentchanges",
    "rcprop" => "title|ids|sizes|flags|user",
    "rclimit" => "3",
    "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"]["recentchanges"] as $rc ){
    echo( $rc["title"] . "\n" );
}

JavaScript

/*
    get_recent_changes.js

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `RecentChanges` module: Get the three most recent changes with sizes and flags

    MIT License
*/

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

var params = {
    action: "query",
    list: "recentchanges",
    rcprop: "title|ids|sizes|flags|user",
    rclimit: "3",
    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 recentchanges = response.query.recentchanges;
        for (var rc in recentchanges) {
            console.log(recentchanges[rc].title);
        }
    })
    .catch(function(error){console.log(error);});

MediaWiki JS

/*
	get_recent_changes.js

	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `RecentChanges` module: Get the three most recent changes with sizes and flags

	MIT License
*/

var params = {
		action: 'query',
		list: 'recentchanges',
		rcprop: 'title|ids|sizes|flags|user',
		rclimit: '3',
		format: 'json'
	},
	api = new mw.Api();

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

Possible errors


Code	Info
rcshow	Incorrect parameter - mutually exclusive values may not be supplied.
rcpermissiondenied	You need the `patrol` or `patrolmarks` right to request the patrolled flag.

Parameter history

v1.24: Deprecated rctoken
v1.15: Removed rctitles
v1.14: Introduced rctitles
v1.13: Introduced loginfo

Additional notes

Many {{ll|Help:Log|log}} actions can be viewed using this module excluding {{ll|Help:Patrolling|patrol}} actions as they are not present in the recentchanges table.
The Timestamp to start listing from may not be more than $wgRCMaxAge into the past, which on Wikimedia wikis is 30 days.
New changes may be inserted to the recentchanges table slightly out of order with respect to their timestamp. Thus, when requesting the most recent changes twice in a row, the second response may contain new changes inserted a few seconds before the most recent one in the first response. If you repeatedly call this module to get a stream a recent change, consider adding some overlap between requests to not miss any changes.
This module can be used as a generator.
This module is implemented by ApiQueryRecentChanges.php .