GET esearch.fcgi
Operation ID: eSearch
Auth: unknown
Description
Searches the specified database and returns a list of unique identifiers (UIDs) matching the query.
Parameters (16)
(string, query, optional)
Web environment string from previous search
(string, query, optional)
Type of date used with reldate
Constraints: {'enum': ['edat', 'mdat', 'pdat']}
(string, query, required)
Database to search (use 'pmc' for PubMed Central)
Constraints: {'enum': ['pmc', 'pubmed', 'pmcbooks']}
(string, query, optional)
Email address for contact
(string, query, optional)
Specific field to search (e.g., title, author, abstract)
(string, query, optional)
Maximum date (YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY/MM or YYYY)
(string, query, optional)
Minimum date (YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY/MM or YYYY)
(string, query, optional)
Query key from previous search
(integer, query, optional)
Return results within last n days
Constraints: {'minimum': 1}
(integer, query, optional, default: 20)
Maximum number of results to return
Constraints: {'minimum': 1, 'maximum': 10000}
(string, query, optional, default: xml)
Return mode
Constraints: {'enum': ['xml', 'json', 'txt', 'html']}
(integer, query, optional, default: 0)
Index of first result to return (0-based)
Constraints: {'minimum': 0}
(string, query, optional)
Sort order for results
Constraints: {'enum': ['date', 'relevance', 'author', 'title']}
(string, query, required)
Search query string
(string, query, optional)
Tool name for logging
(string, query, optional, default: n)
Store results on history server for later retrieval
Constraints: {'enum': ['y', 'n']}
Examples (3)
| Title | Type | URL | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic search for cancer research articles | curl |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/esearch.fcgi?db=pmc&term=cancer&retmax=10&retmode=json |
|
| Search by author with date range filter | curl |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/esearch.fcgi?db=pmc&term=smith&field=author&mindate=2020/01/01&maxdate=2024/12/31&retmax=20&retmode=json |
|
| Recent articles with pagination and history | curl |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/esearch.fcgi?db=pmc&term=CRISPR&reldate=365&retmax=50&retstart=0&usehistory=y&retmode=json&sort=date |
Probe History
Status Codes
| Time | Status | Latency | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-23 10:43:11.587337 | 404 | 501ms | |
| 2026-03-23 10:22:02.226365 | 404 | 513ms | |
| 2026-03-23 10:18:22.342148 | 404 | 506ms |
Response Changes
| When | Old | New |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-23 10:22:02.226365 | 346077724e10 |
f678c032a5ce |
| 2026-03-23 10:43:11.587337 | f678c032a5ce |
6e6785b0708b |