D

38 Messages

 • 

768 Points

Monday, February 13th, 2023 2:32 PM

No Status

1

List of URL search parameters

I can search movies like this:

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?country_of_origin=ES&title_type=feature&primary_language=es

This is different from advanced search, because there the parameter "country_of_origin" is just "country".

I remember 3-4 years ago there was list on IMDb of this parameters "country_of_origin", "title_type", "primary_language" and what they are doing, but I cannot find that list now.

Does anybody know if there is still list or if it has been removed.

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

7 years ago

Not only should there be a way to exclude results based upon particular attributes, there should be a way to control whether multiple parts of a query are intersected (treated with logical "and") or united (treated with logical "or"), or for that matter, combinations of these operations as an expression in a formal language.

For example, I would like to be able to search for titles that are rated G but also not animated. Without a plot keyword such as, say, "live-action" in regular use (or applied automatically on title entries that do not specify the nature of the work), there is no way to filter out cartoons, stop-action cinematography or computer-generated pictures.

Some get-us-up-to-speed information...

The query string of the URL search results listings is organized into a collection of parameters, some of which accept as values a comma-delimited sequence of movie/person properties. For some parameters (such as ones that do not have numeric ranges for values or are not special), the commas ultimately function as either the logical operator "and" or the logical operator "or". An example of such a URL is http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=biography,history,war&title_type=feature,tv_movie,short: "Most Popular Biography-History-War Feature Films/TV Movies/Short Films". Each result is a title that belongs at least to all three of the genres "biography", "history" and "war" (an intersection ["and"] operation), while also being any of the types "feature film", "TV movie" and "short film" (a union ["or"] operation). In title of the results page, noticeably the genres are separated by hyphens whereas the types are separated by forward slashes.

Some of the possible parameters in advanced title searches are as follows:
  • certificates, which can have any combination of the values "us:g", "us:pg", "us:pg_13", "us:r" and "us:nc_17" (and likely more) which are ored together;
  • colors, which can have any combination of values "color", "black_and_white", "colorized" and "aces" which are ored together;
  • companies, which can have any combination of the values "fox", "columbia", "dreamworks", "mgm", "paramount", "universal", "disney" and "warner" which are anded together;
  • genres, which can have any combination of the values "action", "adventure", "animation", "biography", "comedy", "crime", "documentary", "drama", "family", "fantasy", "film_noir", "game_show", "history", "horror", "music", "musical", "mystery", "news", "reality_tv", "romance", "sci_fi", "sport", "talk_show", "thriller", "war" and "western" which (as stated before) are anded together;
  • groups, which can have any combination of the values "top_100", "top_250", "top_1000,", "now-playing-us", "oscar_winners", "oscar_best_picture_winners", "oscar_best_director_winners", "oscar_nominees", "emmy_winners", "emmy_nominees", "golden_globe_winners", "golden_globe_nominees", "razzie_winners", "razzie_nominees", "national_film_registry", "bottom_100", "bottom_250" and "bottom_1000" which are anded together (which in some cases nullify the outcome [but that is no big deal]);
  • keywords, which can have any combination of alphanumeric strings or hyphen-separated alphanumeric strings which are anded together;
  • online_availability, which can have any combination of the values "US/today/IMDb/free", "US/today/Amazon/paid", "US/today/Amazon/subs", "US/today/Amazon/subs", "US/today/WithoutABox/free" and "US/today/Internet Archive/free" which are ored together;
  • production_status, which can have any combination of the values "released", "post_production", "filming", "pre_production", "completed", "script", "optioned_property", "announced", "treatment_outline", "pitch", "turnaround", "abandoned", "delayed", "indefinitely_delayed", "active" and "unknown" which are ored together;
  • role, which can any combination of person keys (for example, "nm1000000") which are anded together (["collaborations and overlaps" in other words] one of IMDb's best features, by the way);
  • title_type, which can have any combination of the values "feature", "tv_movie", "tv_series", "tv_episode", "tv_special", "mini_series", "documentary", "game", "short", "video" and "tvshort" which (as stated before) are ored together.
The above is a partial specification of the system in place. I do not yet have a detailed proposal for what would be even more advanced and improved, because there are lots of contextual nuances (of how to apply set theory) to sort out.

By the way, the techniques presented in the IMDb GS topic "Excluding genres in advanced title search" are outdated or inaccurate. To elaborate on that point, we will note that http://www.imdb.com/search/title?!genres=comedy,music&genres=documentary produces the same results as http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=documentary does.
Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled The advanced search tools should be more advanced, like being able to exclude results.

Champion

 • 

19.4K Messages

 • 

476.9K Points

Hi Jeorj Euler,

Nicely stated specifications. I would love to have an advanced search with the power you specified.

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

O, alright. Thanks, Dan Dassow. It would appear that there are some other GS topics that go into some of the hypothetical details of using Boolean expressions to control union, intersection and inversion (exclusions). It would be nice if we could at least exclude unwanted results based upon their known properties.

5 Messages

 • 

232 Points

And how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

107 Messages

 • 

2.2K Points

12.5?

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

Just to clarify, in case my words were misread, most of what I brought up (as a matter of "specification") explain the existing system which has been in place for many years now.

Champion

 • 

5K Messages

 • 

118.2K Points

Jeorj Euler

Would you like to point out any of the other ATS ideas that look promising?

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

Ha! I'm not sure what would be promising. I don't really have a refined idea short of suggesting that the company host a publicly-accessible SQL site with well-documented parameters, for which machines that have compatible SQL clients and Web daemons would basically broker access for people without SQL clients. Such is inconvenient in a number of ways, including the fact that only Web, e-mail and chat (and shell) systems could ever viably accommodate advertisements being presented to client software. So, instead, there might as well be a website that accepts queries organized into expressions with parentheses, brackets, braces, operators and operands/parameters having alphanumeric identifiers. It could be a burden on the servers if the domain of allowed expressions (or scripts in effect) is too broad, as in enough to allow the risk of lengthy inefficient expressions to be executed. As well, things can get complex and even complicated when multiple nesting of parentheses is needed to convey an idea (including submitting a query). I'd like to think of something a bit more simple or easy, whereby human error (and subsequent frustration) will not be as prevalent.

Champion

 • 

19.4K Messages

 • 

476.9K Points

Providing a publicly-accessible SQL server for IMDb data probably would require more server and support resources than IMDb would be willing to expend. IMDb does provide a static alternate subset version of IMDb Data.

IMDb Datasets
http://www.imdb.com/interfaces/

Champion

 • 

7.4K Messages

 • 

276K Points

Jeorj: I see that I have already given you a vote in favor of this idea, so I am just posting here again to indicate that I agree that I would like to see the advanced search tools offer options such as AND, OR, and NOT as the user may prefer.

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

I don't remember when this merge was made, and yet I "liked" several of the messages nested under my message.

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

O, never mind. It must have happened back in the first quarter of 2033 or the last quarter of 2022.

Champion

 • 

5K Messages

 • 

118.2K Points

2 years ago

I don't understand why you would ask. Why not just try it?

A recent discussion on this forum happens to have confirmed this particular parameter.

I would bet the list is still on the forum. 

38 Messages

 • 

768 Points

2 years ago

I want to know if there are more parameters like this that I can use. Like "country_of_production" or similar. Guessing is not an option here, because there are millions of possible combinations.

Champion

 • 

5K Messages

 • 

118.2K Points

@de_crecy​ 

Sorry, I read "I can" as "Can I".

This may be the post of other parameters that you mentioned:

https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/the-advanced-search-tools-should-be-more-advanced-like-being-able-to-exclude-results/5f4a79c28815453dba896f45

I was able to find it using the Sprinklr advanced search because I remembered who posted it, @jeorj_euler.

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

Believe it or not, I forgot all about this thread.

10.7K Messages

 • 

225.4K Points

(I see that the contents of the thread that I created were merged, rather duplicated, here.)