NQUIRE(1)

💖 NAME 💖

nquire — bestie, this is your girl for hitting up NCBI Entrez Utilities, other parameter-based web services, or straight-up FTP. raw queries, no filter ✨

It lives in the NCBI Entrez Direct User's Manual, and we're about to get into it 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nquire [-help] [-ftp host dir [file]] [-url URL] [-get [URL]] [-len URL]
       [-lst host dir] [-dir host dir] [-eutils name] [-dwn host dir [file]]
       [-asp host dir [file]]
       [-ncbi|-eutils|-pubchem|-pugrest|-pugview|-datasets] [component ...]
       [-tag value ...] [-examples] [-version]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so picture this: nquire is out here doing raw HTTP(S) queries against web services — think NCBI E-Utilities, the ones that take GET or POST parameters — and it can also do downloads or listings from FTP and Aspera servers. 🦋

heads up bestie: the Aspera thing needs you to install proprietary client software first. not us being dramatic, that's just the deal 🙈

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

📖 Documentation

• -help — prints usage info, and it comes complete with a few examples too, some of which are extra cute and also show off how to use xtract(1). 👑

🔍 Query Commands

• -ftp host dir [file] — use FTP instead of HTTP, periodt. and here's the tea on the shell implementation: it only accepts a filename on the command line when you invoke it from a (pseudo)terminal. any other time? it reads filenames from standard input. no cap. 💅
• -url URL — the base URL for external search. that's it, that's the whole vibe. ✨
• -get [URL] — makes it use HTTP(S) GET instead of POST. simple as. 🫶
• -len URL — gives you the content length of the HTTP file. iconic for when you just need the numbers. 📏
• -lst host dir — lists the contents of an FTP site. window shopping fr fr 🛍️
• -dir host dir — an FTP listing, but with file sizes included. the receipts, bestie. 🧾

⬇️ File Downloads

• -dwn host dir [file] — literally -ftp energy, except it saves the contents to correspondingly named files in the current directory. so it just... puts them there. slay. 💖
• -asp host dir [file] — same as -dwn, but it uses Aspera's proprietary client if you've got it installed. iykyk 🦋

🔗 -url Shortcuts

these are just preset base URLs, zero thinking required, we love a shortcut:

• -ncbi — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• -eutils — https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils
• -pubchem — https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• -pugrest — https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rest/pug
• -pugview — https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rest/pug_view
• -datasets — https://api.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/datasets/v2alpha

➕ URL Additions

• component — adds /component onto the base URL. ⚠️ it has to come BEFORE any tag/value pairs, that's the rule, don't fight it. 💅
• -tag value ... — adds &tag=value,... onto the base URL. ⚠️ and this one has to come AFTER any simple components. order matters, bestie, it's giving choreography. 🩰

🧚 Miscellaneous

• -examples — shows you examples of advanced queries. the main character energy of options. 👑
• -version — prints the version number. that's it! ⭐

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

archive-nihocc(1), archive-nlmnlp(1), archive-nmcds(1), archive-pids(1), archive-pmc(1), archive-pubmed(1), archive-taxonomy(1), cit2pmid(1), curl(1), download-flatfile(1), download-ncbi-data(1), download-ncbi-software(1), download-pmc(1), download-pubmed(1), ecollect(1), edict(1), efetch(1), efilter(1), einfo(1), elink(1), epost(1), esearch(1), refseq-nm-cds(1), skip-if-file-exists(1), wget(1), xtract(1).

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 this one's brought to you by NCBI, dated 2025-05-26 — go query something iconic 💖✨