# Search by field

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-by-field/64800>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [May 5, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-by-field/64800 "2025-05-05T23:04:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![victorengel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/victorengel/32/4645_2.png) [@victorengel](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/victorengel)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-by-field/64800/1 "2025-05-05T23:04:30Z")

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I think this is documented somewhere, but I can’t find the documentation. I would like to search observations that have a field entered, Length (mm) is how it displays. I think the query uses the field identifier which is a number, but I don’t know how to find it. Also, can I sort by that field?

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**Author:** ![victorengel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/victorengel/32/4645_2.png) [@victorengel](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/victorengel)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-by-field/64800/2 "2025-05-05T23:11:32Z")

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I just noticed if you click on the field, there is a context menu that pops up that includes search observations with this field. That reveals the field name, which, in this case, turned out not to be numeric, as I thought it was.

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**Author:** ![thebeachcomber](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/thebeachcomber/32/12748_2.png) [@thebeachcomber](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/thebeachcomber)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-by-field/64800/3 "2025-05-06T02:14:34Z")

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> [@How to use iNaturalist's Search URLs - wiki - part 2 of 2](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-use-inaturalists-search-urls-wiki-part-2-of-2/18792/1):
>
> # Search for observation fields and values
> 
> You can specify observation fields and their values in the URL. For example, here are all of the observations with the observation field “Roadkill” set to “Yes”.
> 
> [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?field:roadkill=yes](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?field:roadkill=yes)
> 
> You can search for all observations with a field regardless of the field value (e.g. the field “[Habitat (s Afr)](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?field:Habitat%20(s%20Afr)&place_id=any)” only):  
> `&field:Habitat%20(s%20Afr)`
> 
> or with a field and value (e.g. “[Habitat (s Afr)=Nama Karoo](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?field:Habitat%20(s%20Afr)=Nama%20Karoo&place_id=any)”):  
> `&field:Habitat%20(s%20Afr)=Nama%20Karoo`
> 
> You can also find observations missing a named field:  
> `&without_field=Name of Associated Plant`
> 
> You can easily combine these with other search strings. For example, the following shows all observations marked as being of insect herbivores of _Eucalyptus_.
> 
> [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon\_id=47158&field:Interaction-\>Herbivore%20of=51815](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=47158&field:Interaction-%3EHerbivore%20of=51815)
> 
> The taxon ID for Insecta is 47158 and for _Eucalyptus_ is 51815 (which you find from the URLs of their taxon pages, [https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47158-Insecta](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47158-Insecta) and [https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51815-Eucalyptus](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51815-Eucalyptus)). The observation field used here is “[Interaction-\>Herbivore of](https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/3136)”. Note that the space in that field name needs to be [replaced with a %20](https://www.urlencoder.org/) in the URL so the browser doesn’t get confused.
> 
> **Observation field view**  
> [https://www.inaturalist.org/observation\_fields/1234](https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/1234)  
> Observation field view for a value: (e.g. Fynbos in Habitats-s-afr):  
> [https://www.inaturalist.org/observation\_fields/7498?value=Fynbos](https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7498?value=Fynbos) (case sensitive)  
> Ascending list of observation fields:  
> [https://www.inaturalist.org/observation\_fields?order\_by=name&order=asc](https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields?order_by=name&order=asc)  
> Descending list:  
> [https://www.inaturalist.org/observation\_fields?order\_by=name&order=desc](https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields?order_by=name&order=desc)

see above

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/search-by-field/64800/4 "2025-07-05T02:14:55Z")

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