Need to access Google Custom search api through R

Question

How do I use R to do a Google Custom search? I have the custom search engine id and the api key. I currently try to do this:

getURL("https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?key=API_KEY&cx=ENGINE_ID&q=searchterm")

and I get the following error:

Error in function (type, msg, asError = TRUE) : SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate

Though I am able to get the results in json when I do a get request in the browser. Any clue on whats happening?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 14 '15 at 21:00

4

httr package worked!!

library(httr)
query="https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?key=API_KEY&cx=ENGINE_ID&q=SEARCH_TERM"
content(GET(query))

answered May 14 '15 at 21:00

data-frame-gg

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 14 '15 at 20:35

3

set ssl.verifypeer=TRUE in getURL

getURL("https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?key=API_KEY&cx=ENGINE_ID&q=searchterm", ssl.verifypeer=TRUE)

answered May 14 '15 at 20:35

Ricardo Saporta

It worked for me when I set `ssl.verifypeer" = FALSE`, which seems more logical anyway. The parameter is not mentioned in the help. – Mike Wise Nov 16 '16 at 15:57

2 Answers2