ia-search

An interactive terminal browser and downloader for the Internet Archive. Built with fzf and the ia tool to search, play, and download media without leaving the shell.

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Features

• Interactive Menus: Uses fzf to navigate collections and search results with pagination.
• Search Options:
  • History & Examples: The prompt displays your recent queries and useful example searches.
  • Exact Search: Press Ctrl+E to search exactly what you typed, ignoring history suggestions.
  • Help Guide: Built-in --help command lists all searchable fields like mediatype and creator.
  • Sub-Searching: Narrow down large collections or results without reloading the whole list.
• Media & Previews:
  • File Previews: View files with sizes within an item before playing/downloading.
  • Subtitle Support: Automatically finds and loads matching .srt, .ass, or .vtt files in mpv.
  • Integrated Players: Opens video/audio in mpv, images in nsxiv/imv, PDFs and ePubs in zathura, and text files in vim.
  • Gallery Mode: Open all images in an item at once in your image viewer with [Open all images].
• Functional Tools:
  • Pagination: Results load in pages to keep the interface fast and responsive.
  • Caching: Search results and collection pages are cached indefinitely. Use [Refresh page] to force a reload.
  • Downloads: Pull videos with yt-dlp or any specific file using curl.
  • Customizable: Change your default players and icons at the top of the script.

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Installation

1. Install the dependencies listed below.
2. Move the script to your $PATH:

cp ia-search ~/.local/bin/

1. Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/ia-search

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Usage

Run the script:

ia-search

Check the search syntax guide:

ia-search --help

Browsing

Pick a collection from the main menu or select [Search all collections] to start a query. The search prompt saves your history so you can quickly re-run previous searches or pick from the examples.

Keybindings

Key	Action
Enter	Select highlighted item
ESC	Go back / exit
Ctrl+E	Submit exact typed query (search prompt only)

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Search Guide

Queries use the standard field:value syntax. Combine terms with AND, OR, or NOT.

Common Fields

Field	Description	Example
mediatype	Content category	mediatype:movies
title	Work title	title:"Floating weeds"
creator	Author/Director	creator:"yasujiro ozu"
uploader	Account that uploaded the item	uploader:someuser
subject	Keywords/Themes	subject:"japanese cinema"
collection	Specific collection	collection:vhsmovies
date	Publication year	date:[1980 TO 1989]
language	ISO 639-2 code	language:jpn
identifier	Unique item ID	identifier:openlibrary
format	File format	format:pdf

Mediatypes

• texts (Books/Documents)
• audio (Music/Podcasts)
• movies (Video/Films)
• software (Games/Apps)
• image (Photos/Art)
• data (Datasets)
• web (Web archives)

Language Codes (ISO 639-2)

• English: eng
• Japanese: jpn
• French: fre
• German: ger
• Chinese: zho
• Spanish: spa
• Korean: kor

Examples

Finding Movies by Director

mediatype:movies AND creator:"yasujiro ozu"
mediatype:movies AND creator:"wong kar wai"
mediatype:movies AND creator:"edward yang"

Finding by Title

title:irezumi
title:"typhoon club"
mediatype:movies AND title:"blind beast"

Finding Movies by Language

mediatype:movies AND language:jpn
mediatype:movies AND language:chi

Finding Japanese Magazines

mediatype:texts AND language:jpn AND subject:magazine
collection:magazine_rack AND language:jpn

Finding Image Galleries

mediatype:image AND subject:magazine
subject:gravure AND mediatype:image

Finding by Collection

collection:anime_miscellaneous
collection:pub_playboy
collection:magazine_rack

Finding Audio

mediatype:audio AND subject:album
mediatype:audio AND language:jpn

Finding Texts

mediatype:texts AND subject:linux
mediatype:texts AND language:jpn

Finding by Uploader

uploader:someuser

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Dependencies

Core

• ia (Internet Archive CLI) — Metadata and searching.
• fzf — Interactive menus and filtering.
• jq — JSON parsing.
• curl / pv — Downloading and progress bars.
• python3 — URL encoding.

Media Viewers

• mpv — Video and audio playback.
• nsxiv — Image viewing (X11). Alternative: imv (Wayland).
• zathura — PDF and ePub reading.
• vim — Text file viewing.
• yt-dlp — Video downloads.

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Configuration

You can change the default apps by editing the variables at the top of the script:

VIDEO_PLAYER="mpv"
AUDIO_PLAYER="mpv"
IMAGE_VIEWER="nsxiv"   # X11 — use "imv" for Wayland
PDF_VIEWER="zathura"
EPUB_VIEWER="zathura"
TEXT_VIEWER="vim"
VIDEO_DOWNLOADER="yt-dlp"

To use emoji instead of Nerd Font icons, set:

USE_NERD_ICONS="false"

Note: The default icons require a Nerd Font to display correctly. If you see missing characters, either install a Nerd Font or set USE_NERD_ICONS="false".

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Notes

• Video loading slow? This is normal — playback speed depends on Internet Archive's server speed, not your connection.
• Search results and previews are cached in ~/.cache/ia-search/. Use the [Refresh page] option in any menu to force a fresh fetch.