DDGS | Dux Distributed Global Search

A metasearch library that aggregates results from diverse web search services.

Install
CLI version
DDGS search operators
Regions
Engines
Tips
DDGS class
Proxy
Exceptions
1. text()
2. images()
3. videos()
4. news()
5. books()
Disclaimer

Install

pip install -U ddgs

CLI version

ddgs --help

CLI examples:

a) text:

query='neurophysiology of the flickering light perception'
region='cn'
language='zh'
max_results=5
backend='google, brave'
proxy='socks5h://127.0.0.1:9150' ('tb' is an alias for the Tor browser)

ddgs text -q 'neurophysiology of the flickering light perception' -r cn-zh -m 5 -b google -b brave -pr tb

b) news:

query='etna eraption'
region='it'
language='it'
max_results=10

ddgs news -q 'etna eruption' -r it-it -m 10

c) books:

query='dolphins cousteau'
max_results=100
output='csv' (save as csv file)

ddgs books -q 'dolphins cousteau' -m 100 -o /tmp/books.csv

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DDGS search operators

Query example	Result
cats dogs	Results about cats or dogs
"cats and dogs"	Results for exact term "cats and dogs". If no results are found, related results are shown.
cats -dogs	Fewer dogs in results
cats +dogs	More dogs in results
cats filetype:pdf	PDFs about cats. Supported file types: pdf, doc(x), xls(x), ppt(x), html
dogs site:example.com	Pages about dogs from example.com
cats -site:example.com	Pages about cats, excluding example.com
intitle:dogs	Page title includes the word "dogs"
inurl:cats	Page url includes the word "cats"

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Regions

expand

xa-ar for Arabia
xa-en for Arabia (en)
ar-es for Argentina
au-en for Australia
at-de for Austria
be-fr for Belgium (fr)
be-nl for Belgium (nl)
br-pt for Brazil
bg-bg for Bulgaria
ca-en for Canada
ca-fr for Canada (fr)
ct-ca for Catalan
cl-es for Chile
cn-zh for China
co-es for Colombia
hr-hr for Croatia
cz-cs for Czech Republic
dk-da for Denmark
ee-et for Estonia
fi-fi for Finland
fr-fr for France
de-de for Germany
gr-el for Greece
hk-tzh for Hong Kong
hu-hu for Hungary
in-en for India
id-id for Indonesia
id-en for Indonesia (en)
ie-en for Ireland
il-he for Israel
it-it for Italy
jp-jp for Japan
kr-kr for Korea
lv-lv for Latvia
lt-lt for Lithuania
xl-es for Latin America
my-ms for Malaysia
my-en for Malaysia (en)
mx-es for Mexico
nl-nl for Netherlands
nz-en for New Zealand
no-no for Norway
pe-es for Peru
ph-en for Philippines
ph-tl for Philippines (tl)
pl-pl for Poland
pt-pt for Portugal
ro-ro for Romania
ru-ru for Russia
sg-en for Singapore
sk-sk for Slovak Republic
sl-sl for Slovenia
za-en for South Africa
es-es for Spain
se-sv for Sweden
ch-de for Switzerland (de)
ch-fr for Switzerland (fr)
ch-it for Switzerland (it)
tw-tzh for Taiwan
th-th for Thailand
tr-tr for Turkey
ua-uk for Ukraine
uk-en for United Kingdom
us-en for United States
ue-es for United States (es)
ve-es for Venezuela
vn-vi for Vietnam

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Engines

DDGS function	Available backends
text()	`bing`, `brave`, `duckduckgo`, `google`, `mojeek`, `mullvad_brave`, `mullvad_google`, `yandex`, `yahoo`, `wikipedia`
images()	`duckduckgo`
videos()	`duckduckgo`
news()	`duckduckgo`, `yahoo`
books()	`annasarchive`

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Tips

⚠️ For optimal usage, keep backend='auto' (the default) and specify the desired number of results with max_results. This allows the library to automatically handle temporary backend unavailability.

The library considers:

- Duplicate providers (e.g., yahoo = bing, mullvad_google = google, etc.)
- Result repeatability, prioritizing frequently repeated positions
- Wikipedia summaries at the top of results, if available

To customize the search engine order, provide the backends as a comma-separated string (for example: backend="google, brave, yahoo"). The library will query them in order, falling back to the next one if an error occurs.

The library works in parallel, adjusting concurrent requests based on max_results. This ensures efficient and fast retrieval. You can change the maximum number of threads using the parameter DDGS.threads (for example, DDGS.threads = 20).

Note that a single query returns results from one page (page=1) of the selected backends; iterate over pages for more results. Setting max_results to None returns all unique collected results.

The region parameter also has a strong influence on the quality of the search. Set it as {country}-{language}: ar-es, pl-pl, cn-zh, etc.

Note that some backends may be temporarily unavailable due to ratelimiting or ISP blockages in certain countries. In such cases, using a proxy server can help bypass these restrictions.

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DDGS class

class DDGS:
    """Dux Distributed Global Search. A metasearch library that aggregates results from diverse web search services.

    Args:
        proxy (str, optional): proxy for the HTTP client, supports http/https/socks5 protocols.
            example: "http://user:[email protected]:3128". Defaults to None.
        timeout (int, optional): Timeout value for the HTTP client. Defaults to 5.
        verify (bool): SSL verification when making the request. Defaults to True.
    """

Here is an example of initializing the DDGS class.

from ddgs import DDGS

results = DDGS().text("python programming", max_results=5)
print(results)

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Proxy

Package supports http/https/socks proxies. Example: http://user:[email protected]:3128. Use a rotating proxy. Otherwise, use a new proxy with each DDGS class initialization.

1. The easiest way. Launch the Tor Browser

ddgs = DDGS(proxy="tb", timeout=10)  # "tb" is an alias for "socks5h://127.0.0.1:9150"
results = ddgs.text("something you need", max_results=50)

2. Use any proxy server

ddgs = DDGS(proxy="socks5h://user:[email protected]:8080", timeout=10)
results = ddgs.text("something you need", max_results=50)

3. The proxy can also be set using the DDGS_PROXY environment variable.

export DDGS_PROXY="socks5h://user:[email protected]:8080"

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Exceptions

from ddgs.exceptions import (
    DDGSException,
    RatelimitException,
    TimeoutException,
)

Exceptions:

DDGSException: Base exception for ddgs errors.
RatelimitException: Inherits from DDGSException, raised for exceeding API request rate limits.
TimeoutException: Inherits from DDGSException, raised for API request timeouts.

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1. text()

def text(
    query: str,
    region: str = "us-en",
    safesearch: str = "moderate",
    timelimit: str | None = None,
    max_results: int | None = 10,
    page: int = 1,
    backend: str = "auto",
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
    """DDGS text metasearch.

    Args:
        query: text search query.
        region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
        safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
        timelimit: d, w, m, y. Defaults to None.
        max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
        page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
        backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".

    Returns:
        List of dictionaries with search results.
    """

Example

results = DDGS().text('live free or die', region='us-en', safesearch='off', timelimit='y', page=1, backend="auto")
# Searching for pdf files
results = DDGS().text('russia filetype:pdf', region='us-en', safesearch='off', timelimit='y', page=1, backend="auto")
print(results)
[
    {
        "title": "News, sport, celebrities and gossip | The Sun",
        "href": "https://www.thesun.co.uk/",
        "body": "Get the latest news, exclusives, sport, celebrities, showbiz, politics, business and lifestyle from The Sun",
    }, ...
]

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2. images()

def images(
    query: str,
    region: str = "us-en",
    safesearch: str = "moderate",
    timelimit: str | None = None,
    max_results: int | None = 10,
    page: int = 1,
    backend: str = "auto",
    size: str | None = None,
    color: str | None = None,
    type_image: str | None = None,
    layout: str | None = None,
    license_image: str | None = None,
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
    """DDGS images metasearch.

    Args:
        query: images search query.
        region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
        safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
        timelimit: d, w, m, y. Defaults to None.
        max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
        page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
        backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".
        size: Small, Medium, Large, Wallpaper. Defaults to None.
        color: color, Monochrome, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
            Purple, Pink, Brown, Black, Gray, Teal, White. Defaults to None.
        type_image: photo, clipart, gif, transparent, line.
            Defaults to None.
        layout: Square, Tall, Wide. Defaults to None.
        license_image: any (All Creative Commons), Public (PublicDomain),
            Share (Free to Share and Use), ShareCommercially (Free to Share and Use Commercially),
            Modify (Free to Modify, Share, and Use), ModifyCommercially (Free to Modify, Share, and
            Use Commercially). Defaults to None.

    Returns:
        List of dictionaries with images search results.
    """

Example

results = DDGS().images(
    query="butterfly",
    region="us-en",
    safesearch="off",
    timelimit="m",
    page=1,
    backend="auto",
    size=None,
    color="Monochrome",
    type_image=None,
    layout=None,
    license_image=None,
)
print(images)
[
    {
        "title": "File:The Sun by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly of NASA's Solar ...",
        "image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/The_Sun_by_the_Atmospheric_Imaging_Assembly_of_NASA's_Solar_Dynamics_Observatory_-_20100819.jpg",
        "thumbnail": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.lNgpqGl16U0ft3rS8TdFcgEsEe&pid=Api",
        "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sun_by_the_Atmospheric_Imaging_Assembly_of_NASA's_Solar_Dynamics_Observatory_-_20100819.jpg",
        "height": 3860,
        "width": 4044,
        "source": "Bing",
    }, ...
]

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3. videos()

def videos(
    query: str,
    region: str = "us-en",
    safesearch: str = "moderate",
    timelimit: str | None = None,
    max_results: int | None = 10,
    page: int = 1,
    backend: str = "auto",
    resolution: str | None = None,
    duration: str | None = None,
    license_videos: str | None = None,
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
    """DDGS videos metasearch.

    Args:
        query: videos search query.
        region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
        safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
        timelimit: d, w, m. Defaults to None.
        max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
        page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
        backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".
        resolution: high, standart. Defaults to None.
        duration: short, medium, long. Defaults to None.
        license_videos: creativeCommon, youtube. Defaults to None.

    Returns:
        List of dictionaries with videos search results.
    """

Example

results = DDGS().videos(
    query="cars",
    region="us-en",
    safesearch="off",
    timelimit="w",
    page=1,
    backend="auto",
    resolution="high",
    duration="medium",
)
print(results)
[
    {
        "content": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6901-C73P3g",
        "description": "Watch the Best Scenes of popular Tamil Serial #Meena that airs on Sun TV. Watch all Sun TV serials immediately after the TV telecast on Sun NXT app. *Free for Indian Users only Download here: Android - http://bit.ly/SunNxtAdroid iOS: India - http://bit.ly/sunNXT Watch on the web - https://www.sunnxt.com/ Two close friends, Chidambaram ...",
        "duration": "8:22",
        "embed_html": '<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6901-C73P3g?autoplay=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>',
        "embed_url": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/6901-C73P3g?autoplay=1",
        "image_token": "6c070b5f0e24e5972e360d02ddeb69856202f97718ea6c5d5710e4e472310fa3",
        "images": {
            "large": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVF.JWBFKm1u%2fHd%2bz2e1GitsQw&pid=Api",
            "medium": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVF.JWBFKm1u%2fHd%2bz2e1GitsQw&pid=Api",
            "motion": "",
            "small": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVF.JWBFKm1u%2fHd%2bz2e1GitsQw&pid=Api",
        },
        "provider": "Bing",
        "published": "2024-07-03T05:30:03.0000000",
        "publisher": "YouTube",
        "statistics": {"viewCount": 29059},
        "title": "Meena - Best Scenes | 02 July 2024 | Tamil Serial | Sun TV",
        "uploader": "Sun TV",
    }, ...
]

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4. news()

def news(
    query: str,
    region: str = "us-en",
    safesearch: str = "moderate",
    timelimit: str | None = None,
    max_results: int | None = 10,
    page: int = 1,
    backend: str = "auto",
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
    """DDGS news metasearch.

    Args:
        query: news search query.
        region: us-en, uk-en, ru-ru, etc. Defaults to us-en.
        safesearch: on, moderate, off. Defaults to "moderate".
        timelimit: d, w, m. Defaults to None.
        max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
        page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
        backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".

    Returns:
        List of dictionaries with news search results.
    """

Example

results = DDGS().news(query="sun", region="us-en", safesearch="off", timelimit="m", page=1, backend="auto")
print(results)
[
    {
        "date": "2024-07-03T16:25:22+00:00",
        "title": "Murdoch's Sun Endorses Starmer's Labour Day Before UK Vote",
        "body": "Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper endorsed Keir Starmer and his opposition Labour Party to win the UK general election, a dramatic move in the British media landscape that illustrates the country's shifting political sands.",
        "url": "https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/murdoch-s-sun-endorses-starmer-s-labour-day-before-uk-vote/ar-BB1plQwl",
        "image": "https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1plZil.img?w=2000&h=1333&m=4&q=79",
        "source": "Bloomberg on MSN.com",
    }, ...
]

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5. books()

def books(
    query: str,
    max_results: int | None = 10,
    page: int = 1,
    backend: str = "auto",
) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
    """DDGS books metasearch.

    Args:
        query: news search query.
        max_results: maximum number of results. Defaults to 10.
        page: page of results. Defaults to 1.
        backend: A single or comma-delimited backends. Defaults to "auto".

    Returns:
        List of dictionaries with news search results.
    """

Example

results = DDGS().books(query="sea wolf jack london", page=1, backend="auto")
print(results)
[
    {
        'title': 'The Sea-Wolf',
        'author': 'Jack London',
        'publisher': 'DigiCat, 2022',
        'info': 'English [en], .epub, 🚀/zlib, 0.5MB, 📗 Book (unknown)',
        'url': 'https://annas-archive.li/md5/574f6556f1df6717de4044e36c7c2782',
        'thumbnail': 'https://s3proxy.cdn-zlib.sk//covers299/collections/userbooks/da4954486be7c2b2b9f70b2aa5bcf01292de3ea510b5656f892821950ded9ada.jpg',
    }, ...
]

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Disclaimer

This library is for educational purposes only.

Oven

ddgs9.5.1

Package Downloads

Authors

Project URLs

Requires Python

Dependencies

DDGS | Dux Distributed Global Search

Table of Contents

Install

CLI version

DDGS search operators

Regions

Engines

Tips

DDGS class

Proxy

Exceptions

1. text()

2. images()

3. videos()

4. news()

5. books()

Disclaimer