shortcut.url

The url: item of a shortcut may contain placeholders. This page is about them.

Example

Consider for instance the URL of the Google shortcut:

url: https://www.google.com/search?hl=<$language>&q=<query>&ie=utf-8

It contains 2 placeholders: <query> and <$language>.

Placeholders

Placeholders are either

arguments (starting with < and ending with >): They are replaced with the input from the current query,
variables (starting with <$ and ending with >): They are replaced with settings from the current configuration.

The contents of a placeholder follows YAML Flow Style.

Argument placeholders

Example	Will be replaced with
`<foobar>`	argument from query. If there is more than one argument placeholder, their order in URL also defines the expected order in the shortcut query.
`<foobar: {encoding: iso-8859-1}>`	... with encoding specified. See Input encoding below.
`<Datum: {type: date, output: Y-m-d}>` `<Ziel: {type: city}>`	... with a specified type. See Argument types below.
`<IATA-Code: {transform: uppercase}>`	... with a transformation definition. See Transforming below.

Variable placeholders

Example	Will be replaced with
`<$language>`	configured language
`<$now: {output: HH-mm}>`	current date and time, attribute `output` defines the output format which must be based on dayjs's format. Default is `HH-mm`.

Input encoding

...

Argument types

date

The input will be parsed as a date.

American and European inputs will be distinguished.
An input containing only a number will be assumed as a day of month.
A date in the future will be enforced.
Also, relative inputs are possible.
Weekday abbreviations are understood, too. The language is assumed from the configured language.
With the attribute output, an output format based on dayjs's format can be specified. Defaults to YYYY-MM-DD.

Example input	Example output	Explanation
`7.6.`	`2015-06-07`	assumes German format
`7/6`	`2015-07-06`	assumes American format
`7`	`2015-06-07`	assumes current month & year
`1`	`2015-07-01`	enforced future date: increases month and even year if computed date would be in past otherwise
`+10`	`2015-06-17`	today plus 10 days
`-5`	`2015-06-02`	today minus 5 days
`mo`	`2015-06-08`	next Monday

time

The input will be parsed as a time.

Hours and minutes can be separated by . or :.
It is allowed to only provide an hour.
Relative hours work, too.
With the attribute output, an output format based on dayjs's format can be specified. Defaults to HH:mm.

Example input	Example output	Explanation
`11.00`	`11:00`	Hours and minutes
`11`	`11:00`	only hour given
`+2`	`13:00`	2 hours from now

city

The input will be parsed as an abbreviation for a city name, depending on the current setting for country. Usually, the mappings are based on the local vehicle registration plates' abbreviations.

`country`	Example input	Example output
`de`	`hh`	`Hamburg`
`pl`	`dw`	`Wrocław`
`ch`	`be`	`Bern`

The mappings are stored in /data/types/city.

Transforming

Finally, with <foo: {transform: uppercase}> the output string can be transformed.

Property	Conversion	Example input	Example output	Explanation
`uppercase`	The output will be uppercased.	`lpa`	`LPA`	Makes sure all letters are uppercase.
`lowercase`	The output will be lowercased.	`Lpa`	`lpa`	Makes sure all letters are lowercase.
`eo-cx`	`cx gx hx jx sx ux` to `ĉ ĝ ĥ ĵ ŝ ŭ`	`ehxosxangxo cxiujxauxde`	`eĥoŝanĝo ĉiuĵaŭde`	Converts transcribed Esperanto characters.

Filling and submitting with userscripts

If a website does not allow passing arguments via (GET) parameters, a solution can be targetting the search form, and then letting the fields fill by a userscript.