How to use the github API with OR queries within a repo? What is the right syntax/library?

[the-krushnakant]

I'm trying to use the github API to do a OR query within a repo.

Trying to do a programmatic replication of this query from the UI :

repo:open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo AND (client OR import)

I can do it on the UI like so: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Aopen-telemetry%2Fopentelemetry-demo+AND+%28client+OR+import%29&type=code

Programmatically, I try to do it like this:

import json
import requests

query = 'repo:open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo AND (client OR import)'
params = {'q': query}

url = "https://api.github.com/search/code"

headers = {
    "Authorization": f"token {<TOKEN>}",
    "Accept": "application/vnd.github.v3+json"
}

res = requests.get(url=url, params=params, headers=headers)

print(res.url) # to see what URL requests sent our request to
print(json.dumps(res.json(), indent=4))

and it outputs:

https://api.github.com/search/code?q=repo%3Aopen-telemetry%2Fopentelemetry-demo+AND+%28client+OR+import%29

{
    "message": "ERROR_TYPE_QUERY_PARSING_FATAL unable to parse query!",
    "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest/search/search#search-code",
    "status": "422"
}

[EfremMic]

Hei, The error occurs because the GitHub API search syntax is different from the UI. The API doesn't support complex queries with parentheses for logical grouping (like AND, OR).

To solve this, break the query into multiple requests or try simpler combinations in one request.

Here’s an adjusted query:

query = 'repo:open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo client OR repo:open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo import'
params = {'q': query}

This will search for client or import within the same repository.

[the-krushnakant]

Thank you for the response. Right now, I'm doing the multiple requests thing to get it to work.

But I need to reduce the number of requests to send out to the API, hence why this attempt. The adjusted query did not work either.

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