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Can I get a list of Wikimedia files filtered by a regex?

I am looking to find all images by Kawahara Keiga from Wikimedia.

The filenames usually contain the strings "RMNH.ART" and "Kawahara Keiga" - see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Naturalis_Biodiversity_Center_-_RMNH.ART.5_-_Carcinoplax_longimana_(De_Haan,_1833)_-_Kawahara_Keiga.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Naturalis_Biodiversity_Center_-_RMNH.ART.537_-_Halieutaea_stellata_-_Kawahara_Keiga_-_Siebold_Collection.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Naturalis_Biodiversity_Center_-_RMNH.ART.256_-_Hemitrygon_akajei_(M%C3%BCller_%26_Henle,_1841)_-_Kawahara_Keiga_-_Siebold_Collection.jpg

Is it possible to query a Wikimedia API and get a list of files filtered by "contains" or a regex or similar?

Solution

  • Answering your specific question, you can use: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=search&srsearch=RMNH.ART&srnamespace=6&srlimit=500&format=json

    Alternatively though, since the images are categorised already, you could use this instead: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=categorymembers&cmtitle=Category:Kawahara_Collection_at_Naturalis_Biodiversity_Center&cmlimit=500&format=json

    These will both return the first 500 files, and to get all of them, you will need to add &sroffset=500 or &cmcontinue. Admittedly, I've not quite sure how the second one works.

    The docs for both of these are at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Search and https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Categorymembers