---
name: "opensearch-genquery"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "surfraw"
version: "2.3.0-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/opensearch-genquery"
---

# opensearch-genquery(1)

Output the URL of a query generated from an OpenSearch Description

## NAME

opensearch-genquery - Output the URL of a query generated from an OpenSearch Description

## SYNOPSIS

**opensearch-genquery** \[**-q**\] \[**-H**\] \[**-A**\] \[**-R**\] \[**-c** *COUNT*\] \[**-i** *INDEX*\] \[**-p** *PAGENUM*\] \[**-l** *LANG*\] \[**-O** *ENC*\] \[**-I** *ENC*\] *URL* *SEARCH TERMS...*

## DESCRIPTION

Output the URL of a query generated from an OpenSearch Description file at *URL*, with the specified *SEARCH TERMS* and other options filled in.

If multiple search types are available, **-H**, **-A** and **-R** can be used to specify which type is wanted. For example, **-A -R** can be used to request an Atom response, or failing that fall back to RSS. By default the first URL found in the description file is used.

Not all web sites implement all (or any) of the optional OpenSearch parameters. When used with those sites, the corresponding options will be silently ignored.

## OPTIONS

- **-q**

  Give no output on errors. In this case, consult the exit code to determine errors (See "DIAGNOSTICS").

- **-H**

  Request HTML response.

- **-A**

  Request Atom response.

- **-R**

  Request RSS response.

  **-H**, **-A**, and **-R** can be combined to express response type priority and specify fallback types.

- **-c COUNT**, **--count=COUNT**

  Request COUNT results.

  OpenSearch parameter: *count*.

- **-i INDEX**, **--startindex=INDEX**

  Request results start at offset NUM.

  OpenSearch parameter: *startIndex*.

- **-p PAGENUM**, **--startpage=PAGENUM**

  Request results page PAGENUM.

  OpenSearch parameter: *pageIndex*.

- **-l LANG**, **--language=LANG**

  Request results in LANG. LANG should be a 2-letter ISO country code (e.g. **en** or **de**).

  OpenSearch parameter: *language*.

- **-O ENC**, **--outputencoding=ENC**

  Request results encoded in ENC (default: UTF-8).

  OpenSearch parameter: *outputEncoding*.

- **-I ENC**, **--inputencoding=ENC**

  Specify search terms are encoded in ENC (default: UTF-8).

  OpenSearch parameter: *inputEncoding*.

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show a short help message.

- **--**

  End of options.

## DIAGNOSTICS

The exit code can be consulted to determine errors, as follows:

- **0** - Success.

  - **1** - Error fetching OpenSearch Description URL.

  - **2** - Error parsing OpenSearch Description.

  - **3** - No matching search type found.

  - **4** - Cannot find perl module WWW::OpenSearch.

  - **5** - Unhandled error from WWW::OpenSearch.

  ## DEPENDENCIES

Requires the module WWW::OpenSearch (Debian package libwww-opensearch-perl).

## BUGS

Only supports GET queries.

Please report any bugs found to ianb@erislabs.net

## SEE ALSO

**opensearch**(1), [**opensearch-discover**(1)](/opensearch-discover/1.md), [**surfraw**(1)](/surfraw/1.md), [**WWW::OpenSearch**(3pm)](/WWW::OpenSearch/3pm.md), \<http://www.opensearch.org/\>

## AUTHOR

Ian Beckwith \<ianb@erislabs.net\>

## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2006 Ian Beckwith \<ianb@erislabs.net\>

Licensed under the same terms as surfraw.