API:Move

This page is part of the MediaWiki Action API documentation.

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.12

POST request to move a page.

API documentation

The following documentation is the output of Special:ApiHelp/move, automatically generated by the pre-release version of MediaWiki that is running on this site (MediaWiki.org).

action=move

(main | move)

This module requires read rights.
This module requires write rights.
This module only accepts POST requests.
Source: MediaWiki
License: GPL-2.0-or-later

Move a page.

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Move

Specific parameters:

Other general parameters are available.

from: Title of the page to rename. Cannot be used together with fromid.
fromid: Page ID of the page to rename. Cannot be used together with from.; Type: integer
to: Title to rename the page to.; This parameter is required.
reason: Reason for the rename.; Default: (empty)
movetalk: Rename the talk page, if it exists.; Type: boolean (details)
movesubpages: Rename subpages, if applicable.; Type: boolean (details)
noredirect: Don't create a redirect.; Type: boolean (details)
watchlist: Unconditionally add or remove the page from the current user's watchlist, use preferences (ignored for bot users) or do not change watch.; One of the following values: nochange, preferences, unwatch, watch; Default: preferences
watchlistexpiry: Watchlist expiry timestamp. Omit this parameter entirely to leave the current expiry unchanged.; Type: expiry (details)
ignorewarnings: Ignore any warnings.; Type: boolean (details)
tags: Change tags to apply to the entry in the move log and to the null revision on the destination page.; Values (separate with | or alternative): AWB, convenient-discussions
token: A "csrf" token retrieved from action=query&meta=tokens; This parameter is required.

Example:

Move Badtitle to Goodtitle without leaving a redirect.: api.php?action=move&from=Badtitle&to=Goodtitle&token=123ABC&reason=Misspelled%20title&movetalk=&noredirect= [open in sandbox]

Example

Making any POST request is a multi-step process:

Log in, via one of the methods described on API:Login .
GET a CSRF token .
api.php?action=query&format=json&meta=tokens [try in ApiSandbox]
Send a POST request, with the CSRF token, to take action on a page.

The sample code below covers the final step in detail.

POST request

Move "CurrentTitle" and its talk page to "Page with new title", without creating a redirect.

api.php?action=move&from=CurrentTitle&to=Page%20with%20new%20title&reason=wrong%20title&movetalk=1&noredirect=1&token=sampleCsrfToken123+/ [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
    "move": {
        "from": "CurrentTitle",
        "to": "Page with new title",
        "reason": "wrong title",
        "talkfrom": "Talk:CurrentTitle",
        "talkto": "Talk:Page with new title"
    }
}

Sample code

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    move.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Move` module: Move a page with its
    talk page, without a redirect.
    MIT license
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

URL = "https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"

# Step 1: Retrieve a login token
PARAMS_1 = {
    "action": "query",
    "meta": "tokens",
    "type": "login",
    "format": "json"
}

R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS_1)
DATA = R.json()

LOGIN_TOKEN = DATA['query']['tokens']['logintoken']

# Step 2: Send a POST request to log in. For this login
# method, obtain credentials by first visiting
# https://www.test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual:Bot_passwords
# See https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Login for more
# information on log in methods.
PARAMS_2 = {
    "action": "login",
    "lgname": "user_name",
    "lgpassword": "password",
    "format": "json",
    "lgtoken": LOGIN_TOKEN
}

R = S.post(URL, data=PARAMS_2)
DATA = R.json()

# Step 3: While logged in, retrieve a CSRF token
PARAMS_3 = {
    "action": "query",
    "meta": "tokens",
    "format": "json"
}

R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS_3)
DATA = R.json()

CSRF_TOKEN = DATA["query"]["tokens"]["csrftoken"]

# Step 4: Send a POST request to move the page
PARAMS_4 = {
    "action": "move",
    "format": "json",
    "from": "Current title",
    "to": "Page with new title",
    "reason": "Typo",
    "movetalk": "1",
    "noredirect": "1",
    "token": CSRF_TOKEN
}

R = S.post(url=URL, data=PARAMS_4)
DATA = R.text

print(DATA)

PHP

<?php

/*
    move.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Move` module: Move a page with its
	talk page, without a redirect.
	
    MIT license
*/

$endPoint = "https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";

$login_Token = getLoginToken(); // Step 1
loginRequest( $login_Token ); // Step 2
$csrf_Token = getCSRFToken(); // Step 3
move( $csrf_Token ); // Step 4

// Step 1: GET request to fetch login token
function getLoginToken() {
	global $endPoint;

	$params1 = [
		"action" => "query",
		"meta" => "tokens",
		"type" => "login",
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$url = $endPoint . "?" . http_build_query( $params1 );

	$ch = curl_init( $url );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	$result = json_decode( $output, true );
	return $result["query"]["tokens"]["logintoken"];
}

// Step 2: POST request to log in. Use of main account for login is not
// supported. Obtain credentials via Special:BotPasswords
// (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:BotPasswords) for lgname & lgpassword
function loginRequest( $logintoken ) {
	global $endPoint;

	$params2 = [
		"action" => "login",
		"lgname" => "bot_user_name",
		"lgpassword" => "bot_password",
		"lgtoken" => $logintoken,
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$ch = curl_init();

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endPoint );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query( $params2 ) );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

}

// Step 3: GET request to fetch CSRF token
function getCSRFToken() {
	global $endPoint;

	$params3 = [
		"action" => "query",
		"meta" => "tokens",
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$url = $endPoint . "?" . http_build_query( $params3 );

	$ch = curl_init( $url );

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	$result = json_decode( $output, true );
	return $result["query"]["tokens"]["csrftoken"];
}

// Step 4: POST request to move the page
function move( $csrftoken ) {
	global $endPoint;

	$params4 = [
		"action" => "move",
		"from" => "Current title",
		"to" => "Page with new title",
		"reason" => "API Testing",
		"movetalk" => "1",
		"noredirect" => "1",
		"token" => $csrftoken,
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$ch = curl_init();

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endPoint );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query( $params4 ) );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	echo ( $output );
}

JavaScript

/*  
    move.js
 
    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Move` module: Move a page with its
	talk page, without a redirect.
    MIT license
*/

var request = require('request').defaults({jar: true}),
    url = "https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";

// Step 1: GET request to fetch login token
function getLoginToken() {
    var params_0 = {
        action: "query",
        meta: "tokens",
        type: "login",
        format: "json"
    };

    request.get({ url: url, qs: params_0 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        var data = JSON.parse(body);
        loginRequest(data.query.tokens.logintoken);
    });
}

// Step 2: POST request to log in. 
// Use of main account for login is not
// supported. Obtain credentials via Special:BotPasswords
// (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:BotPasswords) for lgname & lgpassword
function loginRequest(login_token) {
    var params_1 = {
        action: "login",
        lgname: "bot_username",
        lgpassword: "bot_password",
        lgtoken: login_token,
        format: "json"
    };

    request.post({ url: url, form: params_1 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        getCsrfToken();
    });
}

// Step 3: GET request to fetch CSRF token
function getCsrfToken() {
    var params_2 = {
        action: "query",
        meta: "tokens",
        format: "json"
    };

    request.get({ url: url, qs: params_2 }, function(error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        var data = JSON.parse(body);
        move(data.query.tokens.csrftoken);
    });
}

// Step 4: POST request to move the page
function move(csrf_token) {
    var params_3 = {
        action: "move",
        from: "Current title",
        to: "Page with new title",
        reason: "API Testing",
        movetalk: "1",
        noredirect: "1",
        token: csrf_token,
        format: "json"
    };

    request.post({ url: url, form: params_3 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        console.log(body);
    });
}

// Start From Step 1
getLoginToken();

MediaWiki JS

/*
	move.js

	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `Move` module: Move a page with its talk page,
	without a redirect.

	MIT License
*/

var params = {
		action: 'move',
		from: 'Current title',
		to: 'Page with new title',
		reason: 'API Test',
		movetalk: '1',
		noredirect: '1',
		format: 'json'
	},
	api = new mw.Api();

api.postWithToken( 'csrf', params ).done( function ( data ) {
	console.log( data );
} );

Possible errors


Code	Info
nofrom	The `from` parameter must be set.
noto	The `to` parameter must be set.
notoken	The `token` parameter must be set.
cantmove-anon	Anonymous users can't move pages
cantmove	You don't have permission to move this page.
cantmovefile	You don't have permission to move this file. If file moving is disabled altogether, you'll get an immobilenamespace error instead
selfmove	Can't move a page to itself
immobilenamespace	You tried to move pages from or to a namespace that is protected from moving
articleexists	The destination article already exists
redirectexists	The destination is a redirect, but is not a single-revision redirect to the source article
protectedpage	You don't have permission to perform this move
protectedtitle	The destination article has been protected from creation
nonfilenamespace	Cannot move file to non-file namespace.
filetypemismatch	The new file extension does not match its type.
mustbeposted	The `move` module requires a POST request.

Parameter history

v1.29: Introduced tags
v1.17: Deprecated watch, unwatch
v1.17: Introduced watchlist

Additional notes

Successful use of the noredirect parameter requires the suppressredirect right, which is granted to bots and sysops, not ordinary users.
Creating a redirect is the API's default behavior. If you do not have the suppressredirect right, the API will not return an error; it will simply create a redirect.
The Move API uses two additional error handling methods when the page move succeeded, but the talk page or subpage move failed:
- Talk page - The relevant error will be returned in the talkmove-error-code and talkmove-error-info fields.
- Subpage - The relevant error will be returned as a standard code/info structure under the subpages key.