Tuesday, June 17, 2008

IE SearchURLs



Internet Explorer was created to allow anyone to add their own searches with keywords to the functionality of the Address Bar. I am sure this was originally for Microsoft and other companies to use with their products, be we can also create our in the registry. Here is an example of one:



This uses the keyword 'g' (or capital 'G') to search for whatever you type with Google. You set the URL to anything with a variable in it, and you replace the word with "%s". This tells Internet Explorer to use the text you entered and put it where the "%s" is in the URL listed under "(Default)".

Each of the other registry values below the URL are like a 'find and replace' for the text entered after the keyword. For example, the first one with replace any " " (spaces) with the character "+". This is because Google's search replaces spaces with plus signs. The rest of them are all just to replace text that some URLs may not support with their HEX representation so the web server can understand it.

As you can see, the Registry key for all SearchURLs is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\
This is where you can go to edit or remove existing ones, and to add new ones. I have created the .reg file at the bottom of the page (copy into a file and save as .reg) to give you a place to start with the ones I have created.


Please feel free to post comments with ideas for more sites you have added or would like me to add.

Here is a full list of sites in the .reg file:
A - Amazon search
BB - blackberry.com search
BBF - BlackBerry Fourms search
BBiKB - internal BlackBerry KB search
BBKB - public BlackBerry KB search
CD - Computer Dictionary online search
D - Dicrionary.com search
EID - EventID.Net search
G - Google.com search
G1d - Google.com search in the past 1 day
G1m - Google.com search in the past 1 month
G1w - Google.com search in the past 1 week
G1y - Google.com search in the past 1 year
GB - Google Book Search
GBL - Google Blog Search
GF Google Finance Search
GG - Google Gourp Search
GI - Google Images Search
GL - Google Im feeling lucky
GM - Google Maps Search
GN - Google News Search
GP - Google Picasa web search
GS - Google Scholar search
GV - Google Video Search
IMDB - IMDB search
MSDL - Microsoft Download Search
MSKB - Microsoft KB search
MSS - Microsoft Support Search
MSSB - Microsoft Security Bulletin search
MSTN - Microsoft TechNet Search
TG - ThinkGeek search
UD - urbandictionary.com Search
WP - Wikipedia.org search
YT - YouTube Search


A few of my sources:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/02/10/529950.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/08/31/733821.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Zondor/IE-address-short-cuts-install.reg
http://www.commandline.co.uk/searchurl/index.html
http://geeklit.blogspot.com/2006/09/ie-command-line-searches.html


Contents of REG file:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\A]
@="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-3958774-5019106?field-keywords=%s"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\BB]
@="http://na.blackberry.com/eng/navigation/search.do?q=%s&searchMode=simple&pageServletPath=%2F&pageQueryString=&domainID=47&firstTime=true"
" "="%20"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\BBF]
@="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%s+site%3Ablackberryforums.com&meta="
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\BBiKB]
@="http://support/knowledgebase/php/main.do?searchMode=GuidedSearch&confirmNodes=&constraints=&docSortOrder=relevance&numDocs=25&dpref=&searchString=%s&product=&document=&product=&product2=&published=All"
" "="+"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\BBKB]
@="http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?languages=&rwTarget=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackberry.com%2Fbtsc%2FFrfPlayerWidget.do&searchMode=GuidedSearch&searchString=%s"
" "="+"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\CD]
@="http://www.computer-dictionary-online.org/index.asp?q=%s"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\D]
@="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%s"
" "="%20"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\EID]
@="http://eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=%s&source="
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\G]
@="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%s&meta="
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\G1d]
@="http://www.google.ca/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=%s&meta=&as_qdr=d"
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\G1m]
@="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%s&as_qdr=m&btnG=Search&meta="
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\G1w]
@="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%s&as_qdr=w&btnG=Search&meta="
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\G1y]
@="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%s&as_qdr=y&btnG=Search&meta="
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GB]
@="http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=np"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GBL]
@="http://blogsearch.google.ca/blogsearch?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=eb"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GF]
@="http://finance.google.ca/finance?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=pe"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GG]
@="http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%s&scoring=d"
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GI]
@="http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GL]
@="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%s&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&meta="
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GM]
@="http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=vl"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GN]
@="http://news.google.ca/news?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ln"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GP]
@="http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/searchbrowse?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=bq#0+1"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GS]
@="http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ps"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\GV]
@="http://video.google.ca/videosearch?hl=en&q=%s&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iv#"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\IMDB]
@="http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=%s"
" "="%20"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSDL]
@="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=%s&DisplayLang=en"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSKB]
@="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/%s"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSS]
@="http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?mode=r&query=%s&catalog=LCID%3D1033&1033comm=1&spid=global"
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSSB]
@="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/%s.asp"
" "="+"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSTN]
@="http://search.technet.microsoft.com/?query=%s&locale=en-us&ac=3"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\TG]
@="http://www.thinkgeek.com/brain/whereisit.cgi?t=%s"
" "="+"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\UD]
@="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\WP]
@="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s"
" "="_"
"\""="%22"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\YT]
@="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s&search_type=&aq=f"

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