Pass an array of tag parameters to the Stack Exchange API?

Question

I want to retrieve top tagged questions per day using the Stack Exchange API.

This API call works for "oracle":

https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/tags?inname=oracle&site=stackoverflow

Now I want to pass an array of parameters to this API in a single call.

I want to get the number of questions posted per tag.

Can I pass an array of tags to the API?

An array of what parameters, for what purpose? Some API routes allow arrays, some don't. More importantly, forget about "how"; what is the desired end result? — Brock Adams
– Brock Adams, Commented Apr 12, 2018 at 17:21
I want to ger the number of questions posted per tag. If the parameter is an array the i can pass all the tags in one call..hope its clear — Srini Sydney
– Srini Sydney, Commented Apr 12, 2018 at 19:11

Brock Adams · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-13 04:23:52Z

1

The question is not clear. Many API routes do allow arrays for inputs where such would make sense and is not too "expensive".

The plain /tags route does not take arrays in its main parameter (inname) because inname performs a wildcard-ish search, and mixing the two would be too "costly", server-side.

But you can send an array of tags to the /tags/{tags}/info route.

For example to get the number of questions for the oracle, mysql, and sql-server tags you could call:

/2.2/tags/oracle;mysql;sql-server/info?site=stackoverflow&filter=!bNKX0pggz90UuM

which returns:

{
  "count": 514139,
  "name": "mysql"
}, {
  "count": 229607,
  "name": "sql-server"
}, {
  "count": 96037,
  "name": "oracle"
}

Important:

Almost all array parameters to the API are separated by semicolons (;)
Although you should be able to pass up to 100 tags in at a time, there is currently a bug that limits this. To be safe, pass in no more than 45 tags at a time for now.

edited Apr 13, 2018 at 4:23

answered Apr 13, 2018 at 4:15

Brock Adams

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2 Comments

Srini Sydney Over a year ago

I do not understand having a bug on searching more than 45 tags in a call !! May be i am missing something

Brock Adams Over a year ago

Elaborate on what's unclear. The API does not function as it should. Until they fix it, if the tags parameter exceeds 909 characters, the API instance will crash instead of responding properly to your request. To avoid that, I suggested not requesting more the 45 tags at a time. That number is a bit of a SWAG for convenience/ease-of-implementation. It's really the total parameter length that triggers the bug.

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