Last modified: 2013-01-24 21:50:47 UTC
Output from the api: <?xml version="1.0"?> <api> <query> <categorymembers> <cm pageid="6221951" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in the Netherlands by century" sortkey="2043454e545552590a57494e444d494c4c5320494e20544845204e45544845524c414e44532042592043454e54555259" timestamp="2009-03-13T16:44:53Z" /> <cm pageid="17450828" ns="14" title="Category:Demolished windmills in the Netherlands" sortkey="2044454d4f4c49534845442057494e444d494c4c530a44454d4f4c49534845442057494e444d494c4c5320494e20544845204e45544845524c414e4453" timestamp="2011-11-23T04:14:02Z" /> <cm pageid="6185506" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in the Netherlands by type" sortkey="20545950450a57494e444d494c4c5320494e20544845204e45544845524c414e44532042592054595045" timestamp="2009-03-09T20:38:57Z" /> <cm pageid="2631136" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in Drenthe" sortkey="4452454e5448450a57494e444d494c4c5320494e204452454e544845" timestamp="2009-02-06T12:12:46Z" /> <cm pageid="2647481" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in Friesland" sortkey="46524945534c414e440a57494e444d494c4c5320494e2046524945534c414e44" timestamp="2009-02-06T12:13:41Z" /> <cm pageid="2647401" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in Gelderland" sortkey="47454c4445524c414e440a57494e444d494c4c5320494e2047454c4445524c414e44" timestamp="2009-02-06T12:13:59Z" /> <cm pageid="5982816" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in Groningen (province)" sortkey="47524f4e494e47454e0a57494e444d494c4c5320494e2047524f4e494e47454e202850524f56494e434529" timestamp="2009-02-18T07:51:37Z" /> <cm pageid="7748299" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in Limburg (Netherlands)" sortkey="4c494d4255524720284e45544845524c414e4453290a57494e444d494c4c5320494e204c494d4255524720284e45544845524c414e445329" timestamp="2009-09-06T16:52:00Z" /> <cm pageid="2630802" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in North Brabant" sortkey="4e4f5254482042524142414e540a57494e444d494c4c5320494e204e4f5254482042524142414e54" timestamp="2009-02-06T12:14:57Z" /> <cm pageid="2632000" ns="14" title="Category:Windmills in North Holland" sortkey="4e4f52544820484f4c4c414e440a57494e444d494c4c5320494e204e4f52544820484f4c4c414e44" timestamp="2009-02-06T12:15:19Z" /> </categorymembers> </query> <query-continue> <categorymembers cmcontinue="subcat|4f564552494a5353454c0a57494e444d494c4c5320494e204f564552494a5353454c|2647489" /> </query-continue> </api> Expected: mysql> SELECT cl_sortkey_prefix FROM categorylinks WHERE cl_to='Windmills_in_the_Netherlands' LIMIT 10; +-----------------------+ | cl_sortkey_prefix | +-----------------------+ | Century | | Demolished windmills | | Type | | Drenthe | | Friesland | | Gelderland | | Groningen | | Limburg (Netherlands) | | North Brabant | | North Holland | +-----------------------+ 10 rows in set (0.00 sec) I know this used to work because my intersection bot uses this information to sort out some categories. This is now broken.
This change was announced in April 2011. See the announcement at http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mediawiki-api-announce/2011-April/000020.html If you're just sorting, the "gibberish" will sort correctly. If you need the human-readable sortkey for some reason, you can get it by using cmprop=sortkeyprefix (and then using the title if empty) rather than cmprop=sortkey, e.g. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=categorymembers&cmtitle=Category:Windmills_in_the_Netherlands&cmprop=title|ids|sortkeyprefix|timestamp
