API:Purge

MediaWiki Action API
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MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.14

API documentation

action=purge (main | purge) This module requires read rights. This module requires write rights. This module only accepts POST requests. Source: MediaWiki License: GPL-2.0-or-later Purge the cache for the given titles. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Purge Parameters: forcelinkupdate Update the links tables. Type: boolean (details) forcerecursivelinkupdate Update the links table, and update the links tables for any page that uses this page as a template. Type: boolean (details) continue When more results are available, use this to continue. titles A list of titles to work on. Separate values with | or alternative. Maximum number of values is 50 (500 for bots). pageids A list of page IDs to work on. Type: list of integers Separate values with | or alternative. Maximum number of values is 50 (500 for bots). revids A list of revision IDs to work on. Type: list of integers Separate values with | or alternative. Maximum number of values is 50 (500 for bots). generator Get the list of pages to work on by executing the specified query module. Note: Generator parameter names must be prefixed with a "g", see examples. allcategories Enumerate all categories. alldeletedrevisions List all deleted revisions by a user or in a namespace. allfileusages List all file usages, including non-existing. allimages Enumerate all images sequentially. alllinks Enumerate all links that point to a given namespace. allpages Enumerate all pages sequentially in a given namespace. allredirects List all redirects to a namespace. allrevisions List all revisions. alltransclusions List all transclusions (pages embedded using {{x}}), including non-existing. backlinks Find all pages that link to the given page. categories List all categories the pages belong to. categorymembers List all pages in a given category. deletedrevisions Get deleted revision information. duplicatefiles List all files that are duplicates of the given files based on hash values. embeddedin Find all pages that embed (transclude) the given title. exturlusage Enumerate pages that contain a given URL. fileusage Find all pages that use the given files. images Returns all files contained on the given pages. imageusage Find all pages that use the given image title. iwbacklinks Find all pages that link to the given interwiki link. langbacklinks Find all pages that link to the given language link. links Returns all links from the given pages. linkshere Find all pages that link to the given pages. messagecollection Query MessageCollection about translations. mostviewed Lists the most viewed pages (based on last day's pageview count). pageswithprop List all pages using a given page property. prefixsearch Perform a prefix search for page titles. protectedtitles List all titles protected from creation. querypage Get a list provided by a QueryPage-based special page. random Get a set of random pages. readinglistentries List the pages of a certain list. recentchanges Enumerate recent changes. redirects Returns all redirects to the given pages. revisions Get revision information. search Perform a full text search. templates Returns all pages transcluded on the given pages. transcludedin Find all pages that transclude the given pages. watchlist Get recent changes to pages in the current user's watchlist. watchlistraw Get all pages on the current user's watchlist. wblistentityusage Returns all pages that use the given entity IDs. One of the following values: allcategories, alldeletedrevisions, allfileusages, allimages, alllinks, allpages, allredirects, allrevisions, alltransclusions, backlinks, categories, categorymembers, deletedrevisions, duplicatefiles, embeddedin, exturlusage, fileusage, images, imageusage, iwbacklinks, langbacklinks, links, linkshere, messagecollection, mostviewed, pageswithprop, prefixsearch, protectedtitles, querypage, random, readinglistentries, recentchanges, redirects, revisions, search, templates, transcludedin, watchlist, watchlistraw, wblistentityusage redirects Automatically resolve redirects in titles, pageids, and revids, and in pages returned by generator. Type: boolean (details) converttitles Convert titles to other variants if necessary. Only works if the wiki's content language supports variant conversion. Languages that support variant conversion include en, crh, gan, iu, kk, ku, shi, sr, tg, uz and zh. Type: boolean (details) Examples: Purge the Main Page and the API page. api.php?action=purge&titles=Main_Page|API [open in sandbox] Purge the first 10 pages in the main namespace. api.php?action=purge&generator=allpages&gapnamespace=0&gaplimit=10 [open in sandbox]

Examples

Example 1: Purge one or two pages

POST Request

api.php?action=purge&titles=Main_Page|Nonexistent [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
    "batchcomplete": "",
    "purge": [
        {
            "ns": 0,
            "title": "Main Page",
            "purged": ""
        },
        {
            "ns": 0,
            "title": "Nonexistent",
            "purged": ""
        }
    ],
    "normalized": [
        {
            "from": "Main_Page",
            "to": "Main Page"
        }
    ]
}

Sample code

purge_two_pages.py

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    purge_two_pages.py

    MediaWiki Action API Code Samples
    Demo of `purge` module: Sending post request to purge two or more pages
    MIT license
"""
import requests

S = requests.Session()

URL = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"

PARAMS = {
    "action": "purge",
    "titles": "Main_Page|Nonexistent",
    "format": "json"
}

R = S.post(url=URL, params=PARAMS)
DATA = R.text

print(DATA)

Example 2: Purge first 10 pages in the main namespace

POST Request

api.php?action=purge&generator=allpages&gapnamespace=0&gaplimit=10 [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
    "batchcomplete": "",
    "continue": {
        "gapcontinue": "!!Destroy-Oh-Boy!!",
        "continue": "gapcontinue||"
    },
    "purge": [
        {
            "ns": 0,
            "title": "!",
            "purged": ""
        },
        {
            "ns": 0,
            "title": "!!",
            "purged": ""
        }
        ...
    ]
}

Sample code

purge_namespace_pages.py

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    purge_namespace_pages.py

    MediaWiki Action API Code Samples
    Demo of `purge` module: Sending post request to purge first 10 pages in the main namespace
    MIT license
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

URL = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"

PARAMS = {
    "action": "purge",
    "generator": "allpages",
    "gapnamespace": "0",
    "gaplimit": "10",
    "format": "json"
}

R = S.post(url=URL, params=PARAMS)
DATA = R.text

print(DATA)

Possible errors

Code	Info
cantpurge	Only users with the 'purge' right can purge pages via the API
mustbeposted	The purge module requires a POST request.
invalidreason	The requested page title contains invalid characters: "title".

Parameter history

• v1.20: Introduced page ID

See also

• API:Delete
• API:Caching data