Extract paragraphs from Wikipedia API using PHP cURL

Question

Here's what I'm trying to do using the Wikipedia (MediaWiki) API - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php

1. Do a GET on http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?format=xml&action=opensearch&search=[keyword] to retrieve a list of suggested pages for the keyword

2. Loop through each suggested page using a GET on http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?format=json&action=query&export&titles=[page title]

3. Extract any paragraphs found on the page into an array

4. Do something with the array

I'm stuck on #3. I can see a bunch of JSON data that includes "\n\n" between paragraphs, but for some reason the PHP explode() function doesn't work.

Essentially I just want to grab the "meat" of each Wikipedia page (not titles or any formatting, just the content) and break it by paragraph into an array.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Answer 1

The \n\n are literally those characters, not linefeeds. Make sure you use single quotes around the string in explode:

$parts = explode('\n\n', $text);

If you choose to use double quotes you'll have to escape the \ characters like so:

$parts = explode("\\n\\n", $text);

On a side note: Why do you retrieve the data in two different formats? Why not go for only JSON or only XML?

Answer 2

Do you mind sharing your code. I am working on a similar project. Thanks.