GET efetch.fcgi
Operation ID: efetch
Auth: unknown
Description
EFetch retrieves records in the requested format from a list of one or more UIDs or from a user's dataset stored on the Entrez history server.
Parameters (13)
(string, query, optional)
Web environment string from a previous ESearch, EPost or ELink call
(string, query, optional)
NCBI API key for higher rate limits
(integer, query, optional)
Data content for genomes (0=blob, 1=bioseq, 2=bioseqset, 3=nuc-prot, 4=pub-set)
Constraints: {'enum': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]}
(string, query, required)
Database containing the UIDs
Constraints: {'enum': ['pubmed', 'protein', 'nuccore', 'ipg', 'nucleotide', 'structure', 'genome', 'annotinfo', 'assembly', 'bioproject', 'biosample', 'blastdbinfo', 'books', 'cdd', 'clinvar', 'gap', 'gapplus', 'grasp', 'dbvar', 'gene', 'gds', 'geoprofiles', 'medgen', 'mesh', 'nlmcatalog', 'omim', 'orgtrack', 'pmc', 'proteinclusters', 'pcassay', 'protfam', 'pccompound', 'pcsubstance', 'seqannot', 'snp', 'sra', 'taxonomy', 'biocollections', 'gtr']}
(string, query, optional)
UID list (comma-delimited). Either id or query_key/WebEnv must be provided.
(integer, query, optional)
Query key from a previous ESearch, EPost or ELink call
(integer, query, optional)
Number of records to retrieve (max varies by database)
(string, query, optional)
Retrieval mode. Common values: 'text', 'xml', 'asn.1', 'json'
Constraints: {'enum': ['text', 'xml', 'asn.1', 'json', 'html']}
(integer, query, optional)
Sequential number of the first record to retrieve
(string, query, optional)
Retrieval type. Varies by database (e.g., 'fasta', 'gb', 'abstract', 'medline')
Constraints: {'enum': ['fasta', 'gb', 'gbwithparts', 'gp', 'abstract', 'medline', 'xml', 'json', 'uilist', 'docsum', 'full', 'report']}
(integer, query, optional)
First sequence base to retrieve
(integer, query, optional)
Last sequence base to retrieve
(integer, query, optional)
Strand of DNA sequence to retrieve (1=plus, 2=minus)
Constraints: {'enum': [1, 2]}
Examples (3)
| Title | Type | URL | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fetch PubMed article by ID in XML format | curl |
https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=39112357&retmode=xml&rettype=abstract |
|
| Fetch nucleotide sequence in FASTA format | curl |
https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=nuccore&id=NM_001301717.2&rettype=fasta&retmode=text |
|
| Fetch multiple protein records with sequence range | curl |
https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=protein&id=NP_001287045.1&rettype=gp&retmode=text&seq_start=1&seq_stop=100&strand=1 |
Probe History
Status Codes
| Time | Status | Latency | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-23 10:47:01.877662 | 200 | 382ms | |
| 2026-03-23 10:37:08.958281 | 200 | 537ms | |
| 2026-03-23 09:17:48.105348 | 200 | 531ms |
Response Changes
| When | Old | New |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-23 10:37:08.958281 | 99824b4069f2 |
c86af9d3363a |
| 2026-03-23 10:47:01.877662 | c86af9d3363a |
996c1320ff78 |