Searching

What's the point of an API if we can't search😳?

Let's see an example that searches for a particular state (Lagos) in Nigeria.

curl https://whereapis-africa.herokuapp.com/api/countries/f794ecd7-679e-4989-9be6-e081ac2f7145/states?search=lagos -H "your apikey here"

Our response

{
  "message": "States fetched successfully",
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "c9aa6667-0c77-4674-b8fc-2e773c114bda",
      "name": "Lagos",
      "code": "lagos",
      "safeCode": "NG-LA",
      "postalCode": null,
      "description": "Lagos, sometimes referred to as Lagos State to distinguish it from Lagos Metropolitan Area, is a state located in southwestern geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The smallest in area of Nigeria's 36 states,with over 15 million population,[7] Lagos State is arguably the most economically important state of the country,",
      "capital": "Lagos",
      "cities": [
        "Ojo",
        "Epe",
        "Badagry",
        "Eko Atlantic",
        "Ikorodu",
        "Lekki",
        "Ikeja",
        "Lagos"
      ],
      "countryId": "f794ecd7-679e-4989-9be6-e081ac2f7145"
    }
  ]
}

Let's try searching for ab. This time, we get multiple records.

curl https://whereapis-africa.herokuapp.com/api/countries/f794ecd7-679e-4989-9be6-e081ac2f7145/states?search=ab -H "your apikey here"

Our response

{
  "message": "States fetched successfully",
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "cd269093-1687-4b31-8ec1-e978898b81fd",
      "name": "Abia",
      "code": "abia",
      "safeCode": "NG-AB",
      "postalCode": 440001,
      "description": "Abia is a state in the south eastern part of Nigeria. The capital is Umuahia, and the major commercial city is Aba, which was formerly a British colonial government outpost in the region, and is also one of the most populated areas in Nigeria",
      "capital": "Umuahia",
      "cities": ["Aba"],
      "countryId": "f794ecd7-679e-4989-9be6-e081ac2f7145",
      "url": "http://whereapis-africa.herokuapp.com/api/countries/f794ecd7-679e-4989-9be6-e081ac2f7145/states/cd269093-1687-4b31-8ec1-e978898b81fd"
    },
    {
      "id": "ac0974a1-3f1b-4e39-8bfa-703c00d8d668",
      "name": "Abuja",
      "code": "abuja",
      "safeCode": "NG-ABJ",
      "postalCode": 900211,
      "description": "Abuja is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Located in the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s.",
      "capital": "Abuja Municipal Area",
      "cities": [],
      "countryId": "f794ecd7-679e-4989-9be6-e081ac2f7145",
      "url": "http://whereapis-africa.herokuapp.com/api/countries/f794ecd7-679e-4989-9be6-e081ac2f7145/states/ac0974a1-3f1b-4e39-8bfa-703c00d8d668"
    }
  ]
}

Current Limitations#

Search is only available on the name field. So you have to know the name of the state you're searching for. Ideally, Search should work on all fields and should be full text, but this is a little complex for me to approach at the moment.

I hope to implement it sometime in the future.