data

Type: <object>

It enables specific data extraction over the target url, turning Microlink API into a powerful web scraping tool.

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://kikobeats.com' URL with 'data' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://kikobeats.com&data.avatar.selector=#avatar&data.avatar.type=image&data.avatar.attr=src

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://kikobeats.com" \
  -d "data.avatar.selector=#avatar" \
  -d "data.avatar.type=image" \
  -d "data.avatar.attr=src"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://kikobeats.com', {
  data: {
    avatar: {
      selector: "#avatar",
      type: "image",
      attr: "src"
    }
  }
})

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://kikobeats.com",
    "data.avatar.selector": "#avatar",
    "data.avatar.type": "image",
    "data.avatar.attr": "src"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://kikobeats.com",
  data.avatar.selector: "#avatar",
  data.avatar.type: "image",
  data.avatar.attr: "src"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://kikobeats.com",
    "data.avatar.selector" => "#avatar",
    "data.avatar.type" => "image",
    "data.avatar.attr" => "src"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://kikobeats.com")
    q.Set("data.avatar.selector", "#avatar")
    q.Set("data.avatar.type", "image")
    q.Set("data.avatar.attr", "src")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://kikobeats.com', {
  data: {
    avatar: {
      selector: "#avatar",
      type: "image",
      attr: "src"
    }
  }
})

The data extraction needs to be defined at least with a CSS selector.

Response structure

The extracted data will be part of the data payload in the response:

{
  "data": {
    "avatar": {
      "url": "https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/ad0e96f5e30e3c65b7ff31e5a637fea070356f0b/eaa58/images/avatar.jpg",
      "width": 500,
      "height": 500,
      "type": "jpg",
      "size": 53310,
      "size_pretty": "53.3 kB"
    }
  },
  "status": "success"
}

Rule properties

Each data rule accepts the following properties:

Property	Type	Description
selector	`string`	CSS selector to target the element
selectorAll	`string`	CSS selector to target multiple elements
attr	`string`	HTML attribute to extract (e.g., `href`, `src`)
type	`string`	Data type for validation (`string`, `number`, `date`, `image`, `url`, etc.)
evaluate	`function`	JavaScript function to transform the extracted value

Extracting multiple fields

You can extract multiple data fields in a single request:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://news.ycombinator.com' URL with 'data' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://news.ycombinator.com&data.headline.selector='.titleline > a'&data.headline.attr=text&data.link.selector='.titleline > a'&data.link.attr=href&data.link.type=url&data.score.selector=.score&data.score.attr=text

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://news.ycombinator.com" \
  -d "data.headline.selector=.titleline%20%3E%20a" \
  -d "data.headline.attr=text" \
  -d "data.link.selector=.titleline%20%3E%20a" \
  -d "data.link.attr=href" \
  -d "data.link.type=url" \
  -d "data.score.selector=.score" \
  -d "data.score.attr=text"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://news.ycombinator.com', {
  data: {
    headline: {
      selector: ".titleline > a",
      attr: "text"
    },
    link: {
      selector: ".titleline > a",
      attr: "href",
      type: "url"
    },
    score: {
      selector: ".score",
      attr: "text"
    }
  }
})

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    "data.headline.selector": ".titleline > a",
    "data.headline.attr": "text",
    "data.link.selector": ".titleline > a",
    "data.link.attr": "href",
    "data.link.type": "url",
    "data.score.selector": ".score",
    "data.score.attr": "text"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://news.ycombinator.com",
  data.headline.selector: ".titleline > a",
  data.headline.attr: "text",
  data.link.selector: ".titleline > a",
  data.link.attr: "href",
  data.link.type: "url",
  data.score.selector: ".score",
  data.score.attr: "text"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    "data.headline.selector" => ".titleline > a",
    "data.headline.attr" => "text",
    "data.link.selector" => ".titleline > a",
    "data.link.attr" => "href",
    "data.link.type" => "url",
    "data.score.selector" => ".score",
    "data.score.attr" => "text"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://news.ycombinator.com")
    q.Set("data.headline.selector", ".titleline > a")
    q.Set("data.headline.attr", "text")
    q.Set("data.link.selector", ".titleline > a")
    q.Set("data.link.attr", "href")
    q.Set("data.link.type", "url")
    q.Set("data.score.selector", ".score")
    q.Set("data.score.attr", "text")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://news.ycombinator.com', {
  data: {
    headline: {
      selector: ".titleline > a",
      attr: "text"
    },
    link: {
      selector: ".titleline > a",
      attr: "href",
      type: "url"
    },
    score: {
      selector: ".score",
      attr: "text"
    }
  }
})

Extract title, link, and score from Hacker News.

Extracting collections

Use selectorAll to extract multiple matching elements as an array:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://news.ycombinator.com' URL with 'data' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://news.ycombinator.com&data.stories.selectorAll='.titleline > a'&data.stories.attr=text

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://news.ycombinator.com" \
  -d "data.stories.selectorAll=.titleline%20%3E%20a" \
  -d "data.stories.attr=text"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://news.ycombinator.com', {
  data: {
    stories: {
      selectorAll: ".titleline > a",
      attr: "text"
    }
  }
})

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    "data.stories.selectorAll": ".titleline > a",
    "data.stories.attr": "text"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://news.ycombinator.com",
  data.stories.selectorAll: ".titleline > a",
  data.stories.attr: "text"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    "data.stories.selectorAll" => ".titleline > a",
    "data.stories.attr" => "text"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://news.ycombinator.com")
    q.Set("data.stories.selectorAll", ".titleline > a")
    q.Set("data.stories.attr", "text")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://news.ycombinator.com', {
  data: {
    stories: {
      selectorAll: ".titleline > a",
      attr: "text"
    }
  }
})

Extract all story titles as an array.

Nested data extraction

For complex DOM structures, use nested rules to organize your data hierarchically:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://github.com/microlinkhq' URL with 'data' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://github.com/microlinkhq&data.repos.selectorAll=.repo&data.repos.data.name.selector=a&data.repos.data.name.attr=text&data.repos.data.description.selector=p&data.repos.data.description.attr=text

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://github.com/microlinkhq" \
  -d "data.repos.selectorAll=.repo" \
  -d "data.repos.data.name.selector=a" \
  -d "data.repos.data.name.attr=text" \
  -d "data.repos.data.description.selector=p" \
  -d "data.repos.data.description.attr=text"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://github.com/microlinkhq', {
  data: {
    repos: {
      selectorAll: ".repo",
      data: {
        name: {
          selector: "a",
          attr: "text"
        },
        description: {
          selector: "p",
          attr: "text"
        }
      }
    }
  }
})

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://github.com/microlinkhq",
    "data.repos.selectorAll": ".repo",
    "data.repos.data.name.selector": "a",
    "data.repos.data.name.attr": "text",
    "data.repos.data.description.selector": "p",
    "data.repos.data.description.attr": "text"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://github.com/microlinkhq",
  data.repos.selectorAll: ".repo",
  data.repos.data.name.selector: "a",
  data.repos.data.name.attr: "text",
  data.repos.data.description.selector: "p",
  data.repos.data.description.attr: "text"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://github.com/microlinkhq",
    "data.repos.selectorAll" => ".repo",
    "data.repos.data.name.selector" => "a",
    "data.repos.data.name.attr" => "text",
    "data.repos.data.description.selector" => "p",
    "data.repos.data.description.attr" => "text"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://github.com/microlinkhq")
    q.Set("data.repos.selectorAll", ".repo")
    q.Set("data.repos.data.name.selector", "a")
    q.Set("data.repos.data.name.attr", "text")
    q.Set("data.repos.data.description.selector", "p")
    q.Set("data.repos.data.description.attr", "text")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://github.com/microlinkhq', {
  data: {
    repos: {
      selectorAll: ".repo",
      data: {
        name: {
          selector: "a",
          attr: "text"
        },
        description: {
          selector: "p",
          attr: "text"
        }
      }
    }
  }
})

Fallback values

Define fallback rules to ensure data extraction succeeds even when the primary selector fails:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://example.com' URL with 'data' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://example.com&data.title='[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]'

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://example.com" \
  -d "data.title=%5Bobject%20Object%5D%2C%5Bobject%20Object%5D%2C%5Bobject%20Object%5D"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://example.com', {
  data: {
    title: [
      {
        selector: 'meta[property="og:title"]',
        attr: "content"
      },
      {
        selector: "title",
        attr: "text"
      },
      {
        selector: "h1",
        attr: "text"
      }
    ]
  }
})

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "data.title": "[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://example.com",
  data.title: "[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://example.com",
    "data.title" => "[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://example.com")
    q.Set("data.title", "[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://example.com', {
  data: {
    title: [
      {
        selector: 'meta[property="og:title"]',
        attr: "content"
      },
      {
        selector: "title",
        attr: "text"
      },
      {
        selector: "h1",
        attr: "text"
      }
    ]
  }
})

Try multiple selectors in order until one succeeds.

You can read the Microlink Query Language documentation to learn more about defining data extraction rules.