Last night I noticed that Google’s “I’m lucky” search functionality no longer works as expected when it is used programmatically.
Using it from google.com works just fine, but there’s cases when you wanna use it by going to it’s URI.

If you want to do a I’m lucky search programmatically go to http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=<search query>&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&aq=f&oq=
(Don’t forget to replace <search query>)

What’s wrong with it?
Well, I tried finding my blog by doing an I’m lucky search for asdasd - by going to http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=asdasd&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&aq=f&oq=
Did it work? No. But try searching for test - http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=test&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&aq=f&oq=
Now it worked!
Why!?

Using multiple words work too, for example the search query red+car
However the search query Niklas+testing do not work!
Seems to me as if Google sends you to the website if they think its relevant enough to your search.
I believe it hasn’t always been like this? I have not noticed it before.

What’s the big deal with doing I’m lucky searches programmatically anyway?
Well it can be very useful. For example when using a browser plugin allowing you to type something like “g asdasd” in your address bar to search google for asdasd.
I’m using this kind of plugin, namely Parang. It is a small plugin for Safari(Mac version).
If you’ve got a Mac you should check it out - http://hannesp.se/software/.
Don’t let the old-fashion “design” scare you!

I were going to add a search for something like site:http://doc.trolltech.com/4.5/ to let me quickly find classes etc in the Qt documentation.
The possibilities are endless. I think I’ve got more than 50 “custom search shortcuts”.

Tags: google, programming

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 7:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.