Quickstart: Use PHP to call the Bing Web Search API

Warning

On October 30, 2020, the Bing Search APIs moved from Azure AI services to Bing Search Services. This documentation is provided for reference only. For updated documentation, see the Bing search API documentation. For instructions on creating new Azure resources for Bing search, see Create a Bing Search resource through the Azure Marketplace.

Use this quickstart to make your first call to the Bing Web Search API. This Node.js application sends a search request to the API, and shows the JSON response. Although this application is written in JavaScript, the API is a RESTful Web service compatible with most programming languages.

Prerequisites

Here are a few things that you'll need before running this quickstart:

• PHP 5.6.x or later
• A subscription key

Create an Azure resource

Start using the Bing Web Search API by creating one of the following Azure resources:

Bing Search v7 resource

• Available through the Azure portal until you delete the resource.
• Use the free pricing tier to try the service, and upgrade later to a paid tier for production.

Multi-service resource

• Available through the Azure portal until you delete the resource.
• Use the same key and endpoint for your applications, across multiple Azure AI services.

Enable secure HTTP support

Before we get started, locate php.ini and uncomment this line:

; extension=php_openssl.dll

Create a project and define variables

1. Create a new PHP project in your favorite IDE or editor. Add opening and closing tags: <?php and ?>.

2. For the $endpoint value, you can use the global endpoint in the following code, or use the custom subdomain endpoint displayed in the Azure portal for your resource.

3. Confirm that the $endpoint value is correct and replace the $accesskey value with a valid subscription key from your Azure account.

4. Optionally, customize the search query by replacing the value for $term.

$accessKey = 'enter key here';
$endpoint = 'https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/bing/v7.0/search';
$term = 'Microsoft Cognitive Services';

Construct a request

This code declares a function called BingWebSearch that's used to construct requests to the Bing Web Search API. It takes three arguments: $url, $key, and $query.

function BingWebSearch ($url, $key, $query) {
    /* Prepare the HTTP request.
     * NOTE: Use the key 'http' even if you are making an HTTPS request.
     * See: http://php.net/manual/en/function.stream-context-create.php.
     */
    $headers = "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: $key\r\n";
    $options = array ('http' => array (
                          'header' => $headers,
                           'method' => 'GET'));

    // Perform the request and get a JSON response.
    $context = stream_context_create($options);
    $result = file_get_contents($url . "?q=" . urlencode($query), false, $context);

    // Extract Bing HTTP headers.
    $headers = array();
    foreach ($http_response_header as $k => $v) {
        $h = explode(":", $v, 2);
        if (isset($h[1]))
            if (preg_match("/^BingAPIs-/", $h[0]) || preg_match("/^X-MSEdge-/", $h[0]))
                $headers[trim($h[0])] = trim($h[1]);
    }

    return array($headers, $result);
}

Make a request and print the response

This code validates the subscription key, makes a request, and prints the response.

// Validates the subscription key.
if (strlen($accessKey) == 32) {

    print "Searching the Web for: " . $term . "\n";
    // Makes the request.
    list($headers, $json) = BingWebSearch($endpoint, $accessKey, $term);

    print "\nRelevant Headers:\n\n";
    foreach ($headers as $k => $v) {
        print $k . ": " . $v . "\n";
    }
    // Prints JSON encoded response.
    print "\nJSON Response:\n\n";
    echo json_encode(json_decode($json), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

} else {

    print("Invalid Bing Search API subscription key!\n");
    print("Please paste yours into the source code.\n");

}

Put it all together

The last step is to validate your code and run it. If you'd like to compare your code with ours, here's the complete program:

<?php
$accessKey = 'enter key here';
$endpoint = 'https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/bing/v7.0/search';
$term = 'Microsoft Cognitive Services';

function BingWebSearch ($url, $key, $query) {
    $headers = "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: $key\r\n";
    $options = array ('http' => array (
                          'header' => $headers,
                           'method' => 'GET'));
    $context = stream_context_create($options);
    $result = file_get_contents($url . "?q=" . urlencode($query), false, $context);
    $headers = array();
    foreach ($http_response_header as $k => $v) {
        $h = explode(":", $v, 2);
        if (isset($h[1]))
            if (preg_match("/^BingAPIs-/", $h[0]) || preg_match("/^X-MSEdge-/", $h[0]))
                $headers[trim($h[0])] = trim($h[1]);
    }
    return array($headers, $result);
}

if (strlen($accessKey) == 32) {
    print "Searching the Web for: " . $term . "\n";
    list($headers, $json) = BingWebSearch($endpoint, $accessKey, $term);
    print "\nRelevant Headers:\n\n";
    foreach ($headers as $k => $v) {
        print $k . ": " . $v . "\n";
    }
    print "\nJSON Response:\n\n";
    echo json_encode(json_decode($json), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

} else {
    print("Invalid Bing Search API subscription key!\n");
    print("Please paste yours into the source code.\n");
}
?>

Example JSON response

Responses from the Bing Web Search API are returned as JSON. This sample response has been truncated to show a single result.

{
  "_type": "SearchResponse",
  "queryContext": {
    "originalQuery": "Microsoft Cognitive Services"
  },
  "webPages": {
    "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=Microsoft+cognitive+services",
    "totalEstimatedMatches": 22300000,
    "value": [
      {
        "id": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/#WebPages.0",
        "name": "Microsoft Cognitive Services",
        "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/cognitive-services",
        "displayUrl": "https://www.microsoft.com/cognitive-services",
        "snippet": "Knock down barriers between you and your ideas. Enable natural and contextual interaction with tools that augment users' experiences via the power of machine-based AI. Plug them in and bring your ideas to life.",
        "deepLinks": [
          {
            "name": "Face",
            "url": "https://azure.microsoft.com/services/cognitive-services/face/",
            "snippet": "Add facial recognition to your applications to detect, identify, and verify faces using the Face service from Microsoft Azure. ... Cognitive Services; Face service;"
          },
          {
            "name": "Text Analytics",
            "url": "https://azure.microsoft.com/services/cognitive-services/text-analytics/",
            "snippet": "Cognitive Services; Text Analytics API; Text Analytics API . Detect sentiment, ... you agree that Microsoft may store it and use it to improve Microsoft services, ..."
          },
          {
            "name": "Computer Vision API",
            "url": "https://azure.microsoft.com/products/ai-services?activetab=pivot:visiontab",
            "snippet": "Extract the data you need from images using optical character recognition and image analytics with Computer Vision APIs from Microsoft Azure."
          },
          {
            "name": "Emotion",
            "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/cognitive-services/en-us/emotion-api",
            "snippet": "Cognitive Services Emotion API - microsoft.com"
          },
          {
            "name": "Bing Speech API",
            "url": "https://azure.microsoft.com/services/cognitive-services/speech/",
            "snippet": "Add speech recognition to your applications, including text to speech, with a speech API from Microsoft Azure. ... Cognitive Services; Bing Speech API;"
          },
          {
            "name": "Get Started for Free",
            "url": "https://azure.microsoft.com/services/cognitive-services/",
            "snippet": "Add vision, speech, language, and knowledge capabilities to your applications using intelligence APIs and SDKs from Cognitive Services."
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "relatedSearches": {
    "id": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/#RelatedSearches",
    "value": [
      {
        "text": "microsoft bot framework",
        "displayText": "microsoft bot framework",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=microsoft+bot+framework"
      },
      {
        "text": "microsoft cognitive services youtube",
        "displayText": "microsoft cognitive services youtube",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=microsoft+cognitive+services+youtube"
      },
      {
        "text": "microsoft cognitive services search api",
        "displayText": "microsoft cognitive services search api",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=microsoft+cognitive+services+search+api"
      },
      {
        "text": "microsoft cognitive services news",
        "displayText": "microsoft cognitive services news",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=microsoft+cognitive+services+news"
      },
      {
        "text": "ms cognitive service",
        "displayText": "ms cognitive service",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=ms+cognitive+service"
      },
      {
        "text": "microsoft cognitive services text analytics",
        "displayText": "microsoft cognitive services text analytics",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=microsoft+cognitive+services+text+analytics"
      },
      {
        "text": "microsoft cognitive services toolkit",
        "displayText": "microsoft cognitive services toolkit",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=microsoft+cognitive+services+toolkit"
      },
      {
        "text": "microsoft cognitive services api",
        "displayText": "microsoft cognitive services api",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=microsoft+cognitive+services+api"
      }
    ]
  },
  "rankingResponse": {
    "mainline": {
      "items": [
        {
          "answerType": "WebPages",
          "resultIndex": 0,
          "value": {
            "id": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/#WebPages.0"
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    "sidebar": {
      "items": [
        {
          "answerType": "RelatedSearches",
          "value": {
            "id": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/#RelatedSearches"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Next steps

Bing Web Search API single-page app tutorial

See also

• What is the Bing Web Search API?
• Bing Web Search API v7 reference