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Export search results

Beta feature

This feature is in beta. It is available on the TCSE website, but the interface and data fields may change based on user feedback. Feedback is welcome.

You can export token search results as structured data files for use in linguistic research, statistical analysis, or further processing.

How to export

  1. Perform a token search (regular, advanced, or translation search)
  2. When results are displayed, click TSV or JSON in the button bar above the results
  3. The currently visible page (up to 200 hits) will be downloaded
  4. To export additional pages, navigate with Prev/Next and click export again

Export formats

TSV (ZIP download)

Downloads a ZIP archive containing two files:

  • data.tsv — Tab-separated values file (UTF-8 with BOM for Excel compatibility). Each row is one search hit with all data fields as columns.
  • metadata.json — Export metadata including query, total hit count, sampling method, and license information.

This format is best for opening in Excel, Google Sheets, or other spreadsheet applications.

JSON (single file download)

Downloads a single JSON file containing both metadata and data in a structured format:

{
  "metadata": { "export_format_version": 2, "query": "...", "total_hits": 1234, ... },
  "data": [ { "talk_id": 1, "match": "...", ... }, ... ]
}

This format is best for processing with Python, R, or other programming languages.

Export format version and compatibility

The JSON metadata object and the ZIP's metadata.json include export_format_version. Version 2 corrects two fields without changing search results or their order:

  • context_before_1 is the immediately preceding segment; context_before_2 is two segments before the hit. The same numbering applies to translation_context_before_1 and translation_context_before_2. Missing context at the beginning of a talk is an empty string. In expanded-segment mode, these fields refer to expanded segments.
  • When a translation language is selected, translation_lang is a language-code string, such as "ja", in both JSON and TSV. English-only exports omit translation fields.

Exports without export_format_version use the legacy, unversioned format. In those files, the two context_before_* fields were reversed, as were the two translation_context_before_* fields. The translation_lang field contained an object in JSON and a Ruby hash representation in TSV. When combining old and new exports, check the version and normalize these fields, or export the results again. The context_after_* and translation_context_after_* fields have not changed.

Data fields

Each exported hit includes:

Field Description
talk_id Talk ID number
talk_title Title of the TED Talk
speaker Speaker name
year Year of publication
video_type Talk type (e.g., "TED Stage Talk", "TEDx Talk", "TED-Ed Original")
talk_duration Total talk duration in seconds
talk_url URL to the talk on ted.com
segment_id Unique segment ID (for reproducibility)
match Matched word/phrase (search query for regular search; actual surface form for advanced search)
segment_text Full segment text containing the match
segment_position Position in talk (e.g., "42/187")
start_time Segment start time in seconds
duration Segment duration in seconds
context_before_1 One segment before the match
context_before_2 Two segments before the match
context_after_1 One segment after the match
context_after_2 Two segments after the match

Advanced search fields

When using Advanced Search, each hit additionally includes:

Field Description
pos Part of speech of the matched word(s)
lemma Lemma (base form) of the matched word(s)
dep Dependency relation label

Translation fields

When a translation language is selected, each hit additionally includes:

Field Description
translation_lang Translation language code as a string (e.g., "ja")
translation_segment Translated text of the matching segment
translation_context_before_1 Translation of one segment before
translation_context_before_2 Translation of two segments before
translation_context_after_1 Translation of one segment after
translation_context_after_2 Translation of two segments after

Pagination and export scope

Each export downloads the currently visible page of search results (up to 200 hits, matching the regular pagination size). This design has several benefits:

  • Reproducibility: The same page always produces the same data (when randomize is off). You can share exact data with collaborators.
  • WYSIWYG: You export exactly what you see on the screen.
  • Full corpus access: To retrieve all hits for a query, navigate through pages (Prev/Next) and export each one. The page and total_pages fields in the metadata track your progress.

The metadata includes:

  • total_hits: Total number of hits for the query
  • exported_count: Hits in this page (≤ 200)
  • page: Current page number
  • total_pages: Total number of pages
  • randomized: Whether results are in random order (true if the Randomize checkbox is on)

A short 5-second cooldown applies between consecutive exports to prevent accidental double-clicks. The TSV/JSON buttons show a countdown tooltip on hover and automatically re-enable when the timer reaches zero.

License

Exported data includes TED Talk transcripts used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. The metadata file includes a license notice. Exported data is intended for research and educational purposes only.

Tips

  • To export all results, navigate through pages and export each one. Filenames include the page number (e.g., tcse_export_20260411_p3.zip).
  • The segment_position field helps analyze where in a talk a pattern tends to occur
  • Combine Advanced Search annotations (POS, lemma, dep) with context for detailed discourse analysis
  • For comprehensive corpus-level statistics, use the N-gram and Collocation tabs instead of exporting