Search: list

Returns a collection of search results that match the query parameters specified in the API request. By default, a search result set identifies matching video, channel, and playlist resources, but you can also configure queries to only retrieve a specific type of resource.

Quota impact: 100 calls per day. A call to this method has a quota cost of 1 unit in the Search Queries quota bucket.

Common use cases

Request

HTTP request

GET https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search

Parameters

The following table lists the parameters that this query supports. All of the parameters listed are query parameters.

Request body

Do not provide a request body when calling this method.

Response

If successful, this method returns a response body with the following structure:

{
  "kind": "youtube#searchListResponse",
  "etag": etag,
  "nextPageToken": string,
  "prevPageToken": string,
  "regionCode": string,
  "pageInfo": {
    "totalResults": integer,
    "resultsPerPage": integer
  },
  "items": [
    search Resource
  ]
}

Properties

The following table defines the properties that appear in a search result:

Properties
kind string
Identifies the API resource's type. The value will be youtube#searchListResponse.
etag etag
The Etag of this resource.
nextPageToken string
The token that can be used as the value of the pageToken parameter to retrieve the next page in the result set.
prevPageToken string
The token that can be used as the value of the pageToken parameter to retrieve the previous page in the result set.
regionCode string
The region code that was used for the search query. The property value is a two-letter ISO country code that identifies the region. The i18nRegions.list method returns a list of supported regions. The default value is US. If a non-supported region is specified, YouTube might still select another region, rather than the default value, to handle the query.
pageInfo object
The pageInfo object encapsulates paging information for the result set.
pageInfo.totalResults integer
The total number of results in the result set.Please note that the value is an approximation and may not represent an exact value. In addition, the maximum value is 1,000,000.

You should not use this value to create pagination links. Instead, use the nextPageToken and prevPageToken property values to determine whether to show pagination links.
pageInfo.resultsPerPage integer
The number of results included in the API response.
items[] list
A list of results that match the search criteria.

Examples

Note: The following code samples may not represent all supported programming languages. See the client libraries documentation for a list of supported languages.

Apps Script

This function searches for videos related to the keyword 'dogs'. The video IDs and titles of the search results are logged to Apps Script's log.

Note that this sample limits the results to 25. To return more results, pass additional parameters as documented here: https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/search/list
function searchByKeyword() {
  var results = YouTube.Search.list('id,snippet', {q: 'dogs', maxResults: 25});

  for(var i in results.items) {
    var item = results.items[i];
    Logger.log('[%s] Title: %s', item.id.videoId, item.snippet.title);
  }
}

Go

This code sample calls the API's search.list method to retrieve search results associated with a particular keyword.

This example uses the Go client library.

package main

import (
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"net/http"

	"google.golang.org/api/googleapi/transport"
	"google.golang.org/api/youtube/v3"
)

var (
	query      = flag.String("query", "Google", "Search term")
	maxResults = flag.Int64("max-results", 25, "Max YouTube results")
)

const developerKey = "YOUR DEVELOPER KEY"

func main() {
	flag.Parse()

	client := &http.Client{
		Transport: &transport.APIKey{Key: developerKey},
	}

	service, err := youtube.New(client)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Error creating new YouTube client: %v", err)
	}

	// Make the API call to YouTube.
	call := service.Search.List("id,snippet").
		Q(*query).
		MaxResults(*maxResults)
	response, err := call.Do()
	handleError(err, "")

	// Group video, channel, and playlist results in separate lists.
	videos := make(map[string]string)
	channels := make(map[string]string)
	playlists := make(map[string]string)

	// Iterate through each item and add it to the correct list.
	for _, item := range response.Items {
		switch item.Id.Kind {
		case "youtube#video":
			videos[item.Id.VideoId] = item.Snippet.Title
		case "youtube#channel":
			channels[item.Id.ChannelId] = item.Snippet.Title
		case "youtube#playlist":
			playlists[item.Id.PlaylistId] = item.Snippet.Title
		}
	}

	printIDs("Videos", videos)
	printIDs("Channels", channels)
	printIDs("Playlists", playlists)
}

// Print the ID and title of each result in a list as well as a name that
// identifies the list. For example, print the word section name "Videos"
// above a list of video search results, followed by the video ID and title
// of each matching video.
func printIDs(sectionName string, matches map[string]string) {
	fmt.Printf("%v:\n", sectionName)
	for id, title := range matches {
		fmt.Printf("[%v] %v\n", id, title)
	}
	fmt.Printf("\n\n")
}

.NET

The following code sample calls the API's search.list method to retrieve search results associated with a particular keyword.

This example uses the .NET client library.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

using Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2;
using Google.Apis.Services;
using Google.Apis.Upload;
using Google.Apis.Util.Store;
using Google.Apis.YouTube.v3;
using Google.Apis.YouTube.v3.Data;

namespace Google.Apis.YouTube.Samples
{
  /// <summary>
  /// YouTube Data API v3 sample: search by keyword.
  /// Relies on the Google APIs Client Library for .NET, v1.7.0 or higher.
  /// See https://developers.google.com/api-client-library/dotnet/get_started
  ///
  /// Set ApiKey to the API key value from the APIs & auth > Registered apps tab of
  ///   https://cloud.google.com/console
  /// Please ensure that you have enabled the YouTube Data API for your project.
  /// </summary>
  internal class Search
  {
    [STAThread]
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      Console.WriteLine("YouTube Data API: Search");
      Console.WriteLine("========================");

      try
      {
        new Search().Run().Wait();
      }
      catch (AggregateException ex)
      {
        foreach (var e in ex.InnerExceptions)
        {
          Console.WriteLine("Error: " + e.Message);
        }
      }

      Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue...");
      Console.ReadKey();
    }

    private async Task Run()
    {
      var youtubeService = new YouTubeService(new BaseClientService.Initializer()
      {
        ApiKey = "REPLACE_ME",
        ApplicationName = this.GetType().ToString()
      });

      var searchListRequest = youtubeService.Search.List("snippet");
      searchListRequest.Q = "Google"; // Replace with your search term.
      searchListRequest.MaxResults = 50;

      // Call the search.list method to retrieve results matching the specified query term.
      var searchListResponse = await searchListRequest.ExecuteAsync();

      List<string> videos = new List<string>();
      List<string> channels = new List<string>();
      List<string> playlists = new List<string>();

      // Add each result to the appropriate list, and then display the lists of
      // matching videos, channels, and playlists.
      foreach (var searchResult in searchListResponse.Items)
      {
        switch (searchResult.Id.Kind)
        {
          case "youtube#video":
            videos.Add(String.Format("{0} ({1})", searchResult.Snippet.Title, searchResult.Id.VideoId));
            break;

          case "youtube#channel":
            channels.Add(String.Format("{0} ({1})", searchResult.Snippet.Title, searchResult.Id.ChannelId));
            break;

          case "youtube#playlist":
            playlists.Add(String.Format("{0} ({1})", searchResult.Snippet.Title, searchResult.Id.PlaylistId));
            break;
        }
      }

      Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Videos:\n{0}\n", string.Join("\n", videos)));
      Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Channels:\n{0}\n", string.Join("\n", channels)));
      Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Playlists:\n{0}\n", string.Join("\n", playlists)));
    }
  }
}

Ruby

This sample calls the API's search.list method to retrieve search results associated with a particular keyword.

This example uses the Ruby client library.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

require 'rubygems'
gem 'google-api-client', '>0.7'
require 'google/api_client'
require 'trollop'

# Set DEVELOPER_KEY to the API key value from the APIs & auth > Credentials
# tab of
# {{ Google Cloud Console }} <{{ https://cloud.google.com/console }}>
# Please ensure that you have enabled the YouTube Data API for your project.
DEVELOPER_KEY = 'REPLACE_ME'
YOUTUBE_API_SERVICE_NAME = 'youtube'
YOUTUBE_API_VERSION = 'v3'

def get_service
  client = Google::APIClient.new(
    :key => DEVELOPER_KEY,
    :authorization => nil,
    :application_name => $PROGRAM_NAME,
    :application_version => '1.0.0'
  )
  youtube = client.discovered_api(YOUTUBE_API_SERVICE_NAME, YOUTUBE_API_VERSION)

  return client, youtube
end

def main
  opts = Trollop::options do
    opt :q, 'Search term', :type => String, :default => 'Google'
    opt :max_results, 'Max results', :type => :int, :default => 25
  end

  client, youtube = get_service

  begin
    # Call the search.list method to retrieve results matching the specified
    # query term.
    search_response = client.execute!(
      :api_method => youtube.search.list,
      :parameters => {
        :part => 'snippet',
        :q => opts[:q],
        :maxResults => opts[:max_results]
      }
    )

    videos = []
    channels = []
    playlists = []

    # Add each result to the appropriate list, and then display the lists of
    # matching videos, channels, and playlists.
    search_response.data.items.each do |search_result|
      case search_result.id.kind
        when 'youtube#video'
          videos << "#{search_result.snippet.title} (#{search_result.id.videoId})"
        when 'youtube#channel'
          channels << "#{search_result.snippet.title} (#{search_result.id.channelId})"
        when 'youtube#playlist'
          playlists << "#{search_result.snippet.title} (#{search_result.id.playlistId})"
      end
    end

    puts "Videos:\n", videos, "\n"
    puts "Channels:\n", channels, "\n"
    puts "Playlists:\n", playlists, "\n"
  rescue Google::APIClient::TransmissionError => e
    puts e.result.body
  end
end

main

Errors

The following table identifies error messages that the API could return in response to a call to this method. Please see the error message documentation for more detail.

Try it!

Use the APIs Explorer to call this API and see the API request and response.