---
name: "ecollect"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ncbi-entrez-direct"
version: "24.0.20250523+dfsg-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ecollect"
---

# ecollect(1)

list NCBI Entrez unique identifiers

## NAME

ecollect - list NCBI Entrez unique identifiers

## SYNOPSIS

**ecollect** **-db** *name* **-web** *str* **-key** *N* \[**-days**\|**-reldate** *N*\] \[**-datetype** *field*\] \[**-mindate** *date*\] \[**-maxdate** *date*\]

**ecollect** **-db** *name* **-query** *str* \[**-days**\|**-reldate** *N*\] \[**-datetype** *field*\] \[**-mindate** *date*\] \[**-maxdate** *date*\]

**ecollect** **-db** *name* **-id** *str*...\|**-rest** *str*\|**-input** *file*

## DESCRIPTION

**ecollect** lists unique identifiers from NCBI Entrez, either corresponding to a live query or explicitly supplied. In either case, it presents them one per line in numerical order with any duplicates consolidated.

## OPTIONS

### Source Specification

- **-db** *name*

  Entrez database name. Mandatory even when explicitly supplying UIDs.

- **-web** *str*

  NCBI **WebEnv** value corresponding to a previous query, optionally subject to further filtering by date.

- **-key** *N*

  That query's number.

- **-query** *str*

  Query string.

- **-id** *str* ...\|**-rest** *str*

  Existing UID(s) to format; may be internally delimited by whitespace and any punctuation other than **.** or **\_**.

- **-input** *file*

  Read UIDs from the specified file.

### Date Constraint

- **-days**\|**-reldate** *N*

  Return only results from the past *N* days.

- **-datetype** *field*

  Which date field (in abbreviated form) to consider.

- **-mindate** *date*

  Start of date range.

- **-maxdate** *date*

  End of date range.

## SEE ALSO

[**cit2pmid**(1)](/cit2pmid/1.md), [**combine-uid-lists**(1)](/combine-uid-lists/1.md), [**difference-uid-lists**(1)](/difference-uid-lists/1.md), [**efetch**(1)](/efetch/1.md), [**efilter**(1)](/efilter/1.md), [**elink**(1)](/elink/1.md), [**esearch**(1)](/esearch/1.md), [**exclude-uid-lists**(1)](/exclude-uid-lists/1.md), [**intersect-uid-lists**(1)](/intersect-uid-lists/1.md), [**nquire**(1)](/nquire/1.md), [**xfetch**(1)](/xfetch/1.md), [**xfilter**(1)](/xfilter/1.md), [**xlink**(1)](/xlink/1.md), [**xsearch**(1)](/xsearch/1.md).