GET /advancedsearch.php

archive.org:archive.org-api

Summary: Search Archive.org items
Operation ID: searchItems
Auth: unknown
Description

Search the Internet Archive using Lucene query syntax. Supports field-specific searches, boolean operators, range queries, and result pagination.

Parameters (7)

fl (string, query, optional)

Comma-separated list of fields to return. Common fields: identifier, title, creator, mediatype, collection, downloads, date, description, subject

output (string, query, optional, default: json)

Response format

Constraints: {'enum': ['json', 'xml', 'csv']}

page (integer, query, optional)

Page number for pagination (alternative to start/rows)

Constraints: {'minimum': 1}

q (string, query, required)

Lucene query string. Supports boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), field-specific searches (title:"xxx", creator:"xxx"), range queries (downloads:[1000 TO 2000]), and wildcards.

rows (integer, query, optional)

Number of results to return (default varies, use for pagination)

Constraints: {'minimum': 1, 'maximum': 1000}

sort (string, query, optional)

Sort field and direction (e.g., 'downloads desc', 'date asc')

start (integer, query, optional)

Starting offset for pagination

Constraints: {'minimum': 0}

Examples (6)

TitleTypeURLAction
Search Internet Archive items openapi-spec https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=title:war and peace
Advanced Search openapi-spec https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=title:science
Search Internet Archive openapi-spec https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=title:python&fl=['identifier', 'title', 'creator']&rows=10&sort=downloads desc
Search items probe-gate https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?rows=10&page=1&output=json
Search Archive.org items openapi-spec https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=title:history AND mediatype:texts&rows=10&start=0&fl=identifier,title,creator,mediatype&sort=downloads desc&output=json&page=1
Search Archive.org items probe-gate https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=title%3Ahistory+AND+mediatype%3Atexts&rows=10&start=0&fl=identifier%2Ctitle%2Ccreator%2Cmediatype&sort=downloads+desc&output=json&page=1

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 09:45:38.905498 200 1023ms
2026-03-23 09:44:24.567147 200 700ms
2026-03-23 09:37:07.372562 200 1642ms
2026-03-23 09:16:39.186595 200 683ms
2026-03-23 09:09:53.156964 200 662ms
2026-03-22T10:05:41.914628 200 795ms

Response Changes

WhenOldNew
2026-03-23 09:09:53.156964 7eb49bed8316 00651bcda529
2026-03-23 09:16:39.186595 00651bcda529 dc928d71cb13
2026-03-23 09:37:07.372562 dc928d71cb13 3f3df059ee0a
2026-03-23 09:44:24.567147 3f3df059ee0a 592674a99b45
2026-03-23 09:45:38.905498 592674a99b45 40264ea69a97