Boolean Operators
You may use Boolean operators in values for the following parameters:
Boolean Operator Definitions
Note: You cannot include spaces in parameter values.
| Boolean AND [.] | |
|---|---|
| Description | The AND operator (.) returns results that are in the intersection of the collections to either side of the "." operator. |
| Examples | This example removes all results that are in either French or
Italian: |
| Boolean NOT [-] | |
|---|---|
| Description | The NOT operator (.) removes all results that are in the collection immediately following the minus ("-") operator. |
| Examples | This example removes all results that are in French: This example removes all results that are in either French or
Italian: Note: You may have noticed that the second example above uses the Boolean AND operator to specify that results should not be written in French or Italian. Depending on the placement of parentheses in your query, you could use either the Boolean AND operator or the Boolean OR operator to express this query. This is because if a document is written in French, then it is not written in Italian. Thus, your Boolean statement must express that the document is not written in French and the document is not written in Italian. |
| Boolean OR [|] | |
|---|---|
| Description | The |
| Examples | This example returns all results that are written in either
Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese: This example requests all results that are not written in
French or Italian; notice that it places parentheses in a different location
than the sample query for the Boolean AND operator: |
| Boolean Parentheses [()] | |
|---|---|
| Description | This operator lets you ensure that all terms in the innermost set of parentheses are evaluated before terms outside the parentheses are evaluated. You can use parentheses to adjust the order in which terms are evaulated. |
| Examples | The example for the NOT [-] operator shows the following construct for request results that are not
written in either French or Italian: The example for the OR (|) operator also shows a request for results not written in French of
Italian. Since the latter example uses the |
URL Escaping
To make an HTTP search request, you must follow certain conventions so that Google can correctly translate your HTTP request and generate an appropriate response.
The HTTP URL schema specifies that an HTTP URL request may only contain certain characters:
- Alphanumeric characters: (a-z, A-Z, 0-9)
- Special characters: $ - _ . | + ! * ' ( )
- Reserved characters: ; / ? : @ = &
Google uses reserved characters to decode URLs and uses some special characters to request search features. Consequently, you should URL-escape all nonalphanumeric characters that occur in search parameter values.
To URL escape a string, convert each sequence of whitespace characters to a single "+" (plus sign) and replace any other nonalphanumeric characters with the hexadecimal encoding that represents the value of that character. The hexadecimal encodings for the special and reserved characters listed above are shown in the following table. Each of these characters should be URL escaped in request parameter values.
| Character | Hexadecimal Encoding |
|---|---|
| $ | %24 |
| - | %2D |
| _ | %5F |
| . | %2E |
| + | %2B |
| ! | %21 |
| * | %2A |
| " | %22 |
| ' | %27 |
| ( | %28 |
| ) | %29 |
| ; | %3B |
| / | %2F |
| ? | %3F |
| : | %3A |
| @ | %40 |
| = | %3D |
| & | %26 |
| | | %7C |
Examples
| Original String | URL Escaped String |
|---|---|
| punch&judy | punch%26judy |
| O'Reilly | O%27Reilly |
You can find additional information on URL escaping at the W3C and IETF web sites.
Compressing Results
Google can compress search results using HTTP gzip compression. If you can decompress content that has been compressed using the gzip algorithm, you can obtain a 50 percent to 70 percent bandwidth savings, which may improve your response times.
To request that Google return results in compressed format, add the HTTP Accept-Encoding header to your HTTP search request as follows:
If Google does return the search results using gzip compression, then we include the following line in the returned HTTP headers:
Note: If the Content-Encoding HTTP header is not present in the response as shown above, then Google did not compress the results.
This behavior is specified in the HTTP standard. Please consult that document for additional information about using HTTP gzip compression.
International Values
Character Encoding Schemes
The following table lists the character encoding schemes that Google supports. You can assign the ie and oe parameters the values in either of the first two columns of this table. The values in the first column are nicknames for the encoding schemes; the values in the second column are the standard names for the encoding schemes. Google returns the standard names in XML results, and the standard names are suitable for use in your document's HTTP Content-type headers.
| Google name | Encoding | Associated Supported Languages |
|---|---|---|
| latin1 | ISO-8859-1 | Western European (Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish) |
| latin2 | ISO-8859-2 | Eastern European (Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian) |
| latin3 | ISO-8859-3 | |
| latin4 | ISO-8859-4 | Baltic (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian) |
| cyrillic | ISO-8859-5 | Bulgarian, Russian |
| arabic | ISO-8859-6 | |
| greek | ISO-8859-7 | Greek |
| hebrew | ISO-8859-8 | Hebrew |
| latin5 | ISO-8859-9 | |
| latin6 | ISO-8859-10 | Icelandic |
| euc-jp | EUC-JP | Japanese |
| euc-kr | EUC-KR | Korean |
| sjis | Shift_JIS | Japanese |
| big5 | Big5 | Traditional Chinese |
| gb | GB2312 | Simplified Chinese |
| utf8 | UTF-8 | All |
Supported Interface Languages
Google supports more than 80 languages. The default interface language is English. The following list identifies all of the interface languages that Google supports.
| Display Language | hl Parameter Value |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | af |
| Albanian | sq |
| Amharic | sm |
| Arabic | ar |
| Azerbaijani | az |
| Basque | eu |
| Belarusian | be |
| Bengali | bn |
| Bihari | bh |
| Bosnian | bs |
| Bulgarian | bg |
| Catalan | ca |
| Chinese (Simplified) | zh-CN |
| Chinese (Traditional) | zh-TW |
| Croatian | hr |
| Czech | cs |
| Danish | da |
| Dutch | nl |
| English | en |
| Esperanto | eo |
| Estonian | et |
| Faroese | fo |
| Finnish | fi |
| French | fr |
| Frisian | fy |
| Galician | gl |
| Georgian | ka |
| German | de |
| Greek | el |
| Gujarati | gu |
| Hebrew | iw |
| Hindi | hi |
| Hungarian | hu |
| Icelandic | is |
| Indonesian | id |
| Interlingua | ia |
| Irish | ga |
| Italian | it |
| Japanese | ja |
| Javanese | jw |
| Kannada | kn |
| Korean | ko |
| Latin | la |
| Latvian | lv |
| Lithuanian | lt |
| Macedonian | mk |
| Malay | ms |
| Malayam | ml |
| Maltese | mt |
| Marathi | mr |
| Nepali | ne |
| Norwegian | no |
| Norwegian (Nynorsk) | nn |
| Occitan | oc |
| Persian | fa |
| Polish | pl |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | pt-BR |
| Portuguese (Portugal) | pt-PT |
| Punjabi | pa |
| Romanian | ro |
| Russian | ru |
| Scots Gaelic | gd |
| Serbian | sr |
| Sinhalese | si |
| Slovak | sk |
| Slovenian | sl |
| Spanish | es |
| Sudanese | su |
| Swahili | sw |
| Swedish | sv |
| Tagalog | tl |
| Tamil | ta |
| Telugu | te |
| Thai | th |
| Tigrinya | ti |
| Turkish | tr |
| Ukrainian | uk |
| Urdu | ur |
| Uzbek | uz |
| Vietnamese | vi |
| Welsh | cy |
| Xhosa | xh |
| Zulu | zu |
Language Collection Values
You can use the following values to specify a language filter using the lr query parameter:
| Language | lr Parameter Value |
|---|---|
| Arabic | lang_ar |
| Bulgarian | lang_bg |
| Catalan | lang_ca |
| Chinese (Simplified) | lang_zh-CN |
| Chinese (Traditional) | lang_zh-TW |
| Croatian | lang_hr |
| Czech | lang_cs |
| Danish | lang_da |
| Dutch | lang_nl |
| English | lang_en |
| Estonian | lang_et |
| Finnish | lang_fi |
| French | lang_fr |
| German | lang_de |
| Greek | lang_el |
| Hebrew | lang_iw |
| Hungarian | lang_hu |
| Icelandic | lang_is |
| Indonesian | lang_id |
| Italian | lang_it |
| Japanese | lang_ja |
| Korean | lang_ko |
| Latvian | lang_lv |
| Lithuanian | lang_lt |
| Norwegian | lang_no |
| Polish | lang_pl |
| Portuguese | lang_pt |
| Romanian | lang_ro |
| Russian | lang_ru |
| Serbian | lang_sr |
| Slovak | lang_sk |
| Slovenian | lang_sl |
| Spanish | lang_es |
| Swedish | lang_sv |
| Turkish | lang_tr |
Country Collection Values
You can use the following values to specify a country filter using the cr query parameter:
| Country | Country Collection Name |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | countryAF |
| Albania | countryAL |
| Algeria | countryDZ |
| American Samoa | countryAS |
| Andorra | countryAD |
| Angola | countryAO |
| Anguilla | countryAI |
| Antarctica | countryAQ |
| Antigua and Barbuda | countryAG |
| Argentina | countryAR |
| Armenia | countryAM |
| Aruba | countryAW |
| Australia | countryAU |
| Austria | countryAT |
| Azerbaijan | countryAZ |
| Bahamas | countryBS |
| Bahrain | countryBH |
| Bangladesh | countryBD |
| Barbados | countryBB |
| Belarus | countryBY |
| Belgium | countryBE |
| Belize | countryBZ |
| Benin | countryBJ |
| Bermuda | countryBM |
| Bhutan | countryBT |
| Bolivia | countryBO |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | countryBA |
| Botswana | countryBW |
| Bouvet Island | countryBV |
| Brazil | countryBR |
| British Indian Ocean Territory | countryIO |
| Brunei Darussalam | countryBN |
| Bulgaria | countryBG |
| Burkina Faso | countryBF |
| Burundi | countryBI |
| Cambodia | countryKH |
| Cameroon | countryCM |
| Canada | countryCA |
| Cape Verde | countryCV |
| Cayman Islands | countryKY |
| Central African Republic | countryCF |
| Chad | countryTD |
| Chile | countryCL |
| China | countryCN |
| Christmas Island | countryCX |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands | countryCC |
| Colombia | countryCO |
| Comoros | countryKM |
| Congo | countryCG |
| Congo, the Democratic Republic of the | countryCD |
| Cook Islands | countryCK |
| Costa Rica | countryCR |
| Cote D'ivoire | countryCI |
| Croatia (Hrvatska) | countryHR |
| Cuba | countryCU |
| Cyprus | countryCY |
| Czech Republic | countryCZ |
| Denmark | countryDK |
| Djibouti | countryDJ |
| Dominica | countryDM |
| Dominican Republic | countryDO |
| East Timor | countryTP |
| Ecuador | countryEC |
| Egypt | countryEG |
| El Salvador | countrySV |
| Equatorial Guinea | countryGQ |
| Eritrea | countryER |
| Estonia | countryEE |
| Ethiopia | countryET |
| European Union | countryEU |
| Falkland Islands (Malvinas) | countryFK |
| Faroe Islands | countryFO |
| Fiji | countryFJ |
| Finland | countryFI |
| France | countryFR |
| France, Metropolitan | countryFX |
| French Guiana | countryGF |
| French Polynesia | countryPF |
| French Southern Territories | countryTF |
| Gabon | countryGA |
| Gambia | countryGM |
| Georgia | countryGE |
| Germany | countryDE |
| Ghana | countryGH |
| Gibraltar | countryGI |
| Greece | countryGR |
| Greenland | countryGL |
| Grenada | countryGD |
| Guadeloupe | countryGP |
| Guam | countryGU |
| Guatemala | countryGT |
| Guinea | countryGN |
| Guinea-Bissau | countryGW |
| Guyana | countryGY |
| Haiti | countryHT |
| Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands | countryHM |
| Holy See (Vatican City State) | countryVA |
| Honduras | countryHN |
| Hong Kong | countryHK |
| Hungary | countryHU |
| Iceland | countryIS |
| India | countryIN |
| Indonesia | countryID |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | countryIR |
| Iraq | countryIQ |
| Ireland | countryIE |
| Israel | countryIL |
| Italy | countryIT |
| Jamaica | countryJM |
| Japan | countryJP |
| Jordan | countryJO |
| Kazakhstan | countryKZ |
| Kenya | countryKE |
| Kiribati | countryKI |
| Korea, Democratic People's Republic of | countryKP |
| Korea, Republic of | countryKR |
| Kuwait | countryKW |
| Kyrgyzstan | countryKG |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | countryLA |
| Latvia | countryLV |
| Lebanon | countryLB |
| Lesotho | countryLS |
| Liberia | countryLR |
| Libyan Arab Jamahiriya | countryLY |
| Liechtenstein | countryLI |
| Lithuania | countryLT |
| Luxembourg | countryLU |
| Macao | countryMO |
| Macedonia, the Former Yugosalv Republic of | countryMK |
| Madagascar | countryMG |
| Malawi | countryMW |
| Malaysia | countryMY |
| Maldives | countryMV |
| Mali | countryML |
| Malta | countryMT |
| Marshall Islands | countryMH |
| Martinique | countryMQ |
| Mauritania | countryMR |
| Mauritius | countryMU |
| Mayotte | countryYT |
| Mexico | countryMX |
| Micronesia, Federated States of | countryFM |
| Moldova, Republic of | countryMD |
| Monaco | countryMC |
| Mongolia | countryMN |
| Montserrat | countryMS |
| Morocco | countryMA |
| Mozambique | countryMZ |
| Myanmar | countryMM |
| Namibia | countryNA |
| Nauru | countryNR |
| Nepal | countryNP |
| Netherlands | countryNL |
| Netherlands Antilles | countryAN |
| New Caledonia | countryNC |
| New Zealand | countryNZ |
| Nicaragua | countryNI |
| Niger | countryNE |
| Nigeria | countryNG |
| Niue | countryNU |
| Norfolk Island | countryNF |
| Northern Mariana Islands | countryMP |
| Norway | countryNO |
| Oman | countryOM |
| Pakistan | countryPK |
| Palau | countryPW |
| Palestinian Territory | countryPS |
| Panama | countryPA |
| Papua New Guinea | countryPG |
| Paraguay | countryPY |
| Peru | countryPE |
| Philippines | countryPH |
| Pitcairn | countryPN |
| Poland | countryPL |
| Portugal | countryPT |
| Puerto Rico | countryPR |
| Qatar | countryQA |
| Reunion | countryRE |
| Romania | countryRO |
| Russian Federation | countryRU |
| Rwanda | countryRW |
| Saint Helena | countrySH |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | countryKN |
| Saint Lucia | countryLC |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon | countryPM |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | countryVC |
| Samoa | countryWS |
| San Marino | countrySM |
| Sao Tome and Principe | countryST |
| Saudi Arabia | countrySA |
| Senegal | countrySN |
| Serbia and Montenegro | countryCS |
| Seychelles | countrySC |
| Sierra Leone | countrySL |
| Singapore | countrySG |
| Slovakia | countrySK |
| Slovenia | countrySI |
| Solomon Islands | countrySB |
| Somalia | countrySO |
| South Africa | countryZA |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | countryGS |
| Spain | countryES |
| Sri Lanka | countryLK |
| Sudan | countrySD |
| Suriname | countrySR |
| Svalbard and Jan Mayen | countrySJ |
| Swaziland | countrySZ |
| Sweden | countrySE |
| Switzerland | countryCH |
| Syrian Arab Republic | countrySY |
| Taiwan, Province of China | countryTW |
| Tajikistan | countryTJ |
| Tanzania, United Republic of | countryTZ |
| Thailand | countryTH |
| Togo | countryTG |
| Tokelau | countryTK |
| Tonga | countryTO |
| Trinidad and Tobago | countryTT |
| Tunisia | countryTN |
| Turkey | countryTR |
| Turkmenistan | countryTM |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | countryTC |
| Tuvalu | countryTV |
| Uganda | countryUG |
| Ukraine | countryUA |
| United Arab Emirates | countryAE |
| United Kingdom | countryUK |
| United States | countryUS |
| United States Minor Outlying Islands | countryUM |
| Uruguay | countryUY |
| Uzbekistan | countryUZ |
| Vanuatu | countryVU |
| Venezuela | countryVE |
| Vietnam | countryVN |
| Virgin Islands, British | countryVG |
| Virgin Islands, U.S. | countryVI |
| Wallis and Futuna | countryWF |
| Western Sahara | countryEH |
| Yemen | countryYE |
| Yugoslavia | countryYU |
| Zambia | countryZM |
| Zimbabwe | countryZW |
Country Codes
The following table lists the two-letter country codes that can be used as values of the gl parameter:
| Country | Country Code |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | af |
| Albania | al |
| Algeria | dz |
| American Samoa | as |
| Andorra | ad |
| Angola | ao |
| Anguilla | ai |
| Antarctica | aq |
| Antigua and Barbuda | ag |
| Argentina | ar |
| Armenia | am |
| Aruba | aw |
| Australia | au |
| Austria | at |
| Azerbaijan | az |
| Bahamas | bs |
| Bahrain | bh |
| Bangladesh | bd |
| Barbados | bb |
| Belarus | by |
| Belgium | be |
| Belize | bz |
| Benin | bj |
| Bermuda | bm |
| Bhutan | bt |
| Bolivia | bo |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | ba |
| Botswana | bw |
| Bouvet Island | bv |
| Brazil | br |
| British Indian Ocean Territory | io |
| Brunei Darussalam | bn |
| Bulgaria | bg |
| Burkina Faso | bf |
| Burundi | bi |
| Cambodia | kh |
| Cameroon | cm |
| Canada | ca |
| Cape Verde | cv |
| Cayman Islands | ky |
| Central African Republic | cf |
| Chad | td |
| Chile | cl |
| China | cn |
| Christmas Island | cx |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands | cc |
| Colombia | co |
| Comoros | km |
| Congo | cg |
| Congo, the Democratic Republic of the | cd |
| Cook Islands | ck |
| Costa Rica | cr |
| Cote D'ivoire | ci |
| Croatia | hr |
| Cuba | cu |
| Cyprus | cy |
| Czech Republic | cz |
| Denmark | dk |
| Djibouti | dj |
| Dominica | dm |
| Dominican Republic | do |
| Ecuador | ec |
| Egypt | eg |
| El Salvador | sv |
| Equatorial Guinea | gq |
| Eritrea | er |
| Estonia | ee |
| Ethiopia | et |
| Falkland Islands (Malvinas) | fk |
| Faroe Islands | fo |
| Fiji | fj |
| Finland | fi |
| France | fr |
| French Guiana | gf |
| French Polynesia | pf |
| French Southern Territories | tf |
| Gabon | ga |
| Gambia | gm |
| Georgia | ge |
| Germany | de |
| Ghana | gh |
| Gibraltar | gi |
| Greece | gr |
| Greenland | gl |
| Grenada | gd |
| Guadeloupe | gp |
| Guam | gu |
| Guatemala | gt |
| Guinea | gn |
| Guinea-Bissau | gw |
| Guyana | gy |
| Haiti | ht |
| Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands | hm |
| Holy See (Vatican City State) | va |
| Honduras | hn |
| Hong Kong | hk |
| Hungary | hu |
| Iceland | is |
| India | in |
| Indonesia | id |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | ir |
| Iraq | iq |
| Ireland | ie |
| Israel | il |
| Italy | it |
| Jamaica | jm |
| Japan | jp |
| Jordan | jo |
| Kazakhstan | kz |
| Kenya | ke |
| Kiribati | ki |
| Korea, Democratic People's Republic of | kp |
| Korea, Republic of | kr |
| Kuwait | kw |
| Kyrgyzstan | kg |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | la |
| Latvia | lv |
| Lebanon | lb |
| Lesotho | ls |
| Liberia | lr |
| Libyan Arab Jamahiriya | ly |
| Liechtenstein | li |
| Lithuania | lt |
| Luxembourg | lu |
| Macao | mo |
| Macedonia, the Former Yugosalv Republic of | mk |
| Madagascar | mg |
| Malawi | mw |
| Malaysia | my |
| Maldives | mv |
| Mali | ml |
| Malta | mt |
| Marshall Islands | mh |
| Martinique | mq |
| Mauritania | mr |
| Mauritius | mu |
| Mayotte | yt |
| Mexico | mx |
| Micronesia, Federated States of | fm |
| Moldova, Republic of | md |
| Monaco | mc |
| Mongolia | mn |
| Montserrat | ms |
| Morocco | ma |
| Mozambique | mz |
| Myanmar | mm |
| Namibia | na |
| Nauru | nr |
| Nepal | np |
| Netherlands | nl |
| Netherlands Antilles | an |
| New Caledonia | nc |
| New Zealand | nz |
| Nicaragua | ni |
| Niger | ne |
| Nigeria | ng |
| Niue | nu |
| Norfolk Island | nf |
| Northern Mariana Islands | mp |
| Norway | no |
| Oman | om |
| Pakistan | pk |
| Palau | pw |
| Palestinian Territory, Occupied | ps |
| Panama | pa |
| Papua New Guinea | pg |
| Paraguay | py |
| Peru | pe |
| Philippines | ph |
| Pitcairn | pn |
| Poland | pl |
| Portugal | pt |
| Puerto Rico | pr |
| Qatar | qa |
| Reunion | re |
| Romania | ro |
| Russian Federation | ru |
| Rwanda | rw |
| Saint Helena | sh |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | kn |
| Saint Lucia | lc |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon | pm |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | vc |
| Samoa | ws |
| San Marino | sm |
| Sao Tome and Principe | st |
| Saudi Arabia | sa |
| Senegal | sn |
| Serbia and Montenegro | cs |
| Seychelles | sc |
| Sierra Leone | sl |
| Singapore | sg |
| Slovakia | sk |
| Slovenia | si |
| Solomon Islands | sb |
| Somalia | so |
| South Africa | za |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | gs |
| Spain | es |
| Sri Lanka | lk |
| Sudan | sd |
| Suriname | sr |
| Svalbard and Jan Mayen | sj |
| Swaziland | sz |
| Sweden | se |
| Switzerland | ch |
| Syrian Arab Republic | sy |
| Taiwan, Province of China | tw |
| Tajikistan | tj |
| Tanzania, United Republic of | tz |
| Thailand | th |
| Timor-Leste | tl |
| Togo | tg |
| Tokelau | tk |
| Tonga | to |
| Trinidad and Tobago | tt |
| Tunisia | tn |
| Turkey | tr |
| Turkmenistan | tm |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | tc |
| Tuvalu | tv |
| Uganda | ug |
| Ukraine | ua |
| United Arab Emirates | ae |
| United Kingdom | uk |
| United States | us |
| United States Minor Outlying Islands | um |
| Uruguay | uy |
| Uzbekistan | uz |
| Vanuatu | vu |
| Venezuela | ve |
| Viet Nam | vn |
| Virgin Islands, British | vg |
| Virgin Islands, U.S. | vi |
| Wallis and Futuna | wf |
| Western Sahara | eh |
| Yemen | ye |
| Zambia | zm |
| Zimbabwe | zw |