"Description" - what even is? - Search Channels

[BarryCarlyon]

Brief description

The docs for Search Channels refers to "description" Which is a field not present in the output.

What does Twitch mean by "Description" is this actually the "title" of the stream (which is in the Output)

Returns a list of channels (users who have streamed within the past 6 months) that match the query via channel name or description either entirely or partially. Results include both live and offline channels. Online channels will have additional metadata (e.g. started_at, tag_ids).

if it is "title" then #515 is a valid bug and https://twitch.uservoice.com/forums/310213-developers/suggestions/43079766-stream-title-searching is an invalid feature request (current tagged investigating)

Expected documentation

What does Twitch actually mean.

Additional context or questions

https://dev.twitch.tv/docs/api/reference#search-channels

[caffeinewriter]

So, to share some of my own research, description is likely its own thing, and the lack of title searching is part of what's keeping me from switching to Helix yet (or perhaps at all), though I'd also like some clarification on what all fields the Search API looks at. One particularly illuminating term to search for is "dixper", which is experiencing a boom in popularity on Twitch right now, and appearing in a lot of titles. However, searching for "dixper" returns extremely few results, and so far, only fuzzy matches (i.e. "dixie").

[
  {
    "broadcaster_language": "en",
    "broadcaster_login": "skyler774",
    "display_name": "Skyler774",
    "game_id": "4162",
    "game_name": "Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!",
    "id": "81996356",
    "is_live": true,
    "started_at": "2021-10-22T06:30:37Z",
    "tag_ids": [
      "6ea6bca4-4712-4ab9-a906-e3336a9d8039"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": "https://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/jtv_user_pictures/fec5e217-cc0d-4a41-b9e9-46ab0dc3a8ab-profile_image-300x300.jpg",
    "title": "DKC3: Tag Team Trouble 103% attempts for sub 2:10/WR!!"
  },
  {
    "broadcaster_language": "en",
    "broadcaster_login": "dixiewrecked88",
    "display_name": "dixiewrecked88",
    "game_id": "1614555304",
    "game_name": "Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare",
    "id": "725075451",
    "is_live": true,
    "started_at": "2021-10-22T05:23:49Z",
    "tag_ids": [
      "6ea6bca4-4712-4ab9-a906-e3336a9d8039",
      "60f44eae-0460-4cd4-b7cf-90567a031382"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": "https://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/user-default-pictures-uv/de130ab0-def7-11e9-b668-784f43822e80-profile_image-300x300.png",
    "title": "Dixie_wrecked88  "
  }
]

However, searching via the Twitch search box reveals a multitude of streams with "dixper" or "!dixper" present directly in the title.

It's also likely not the channel description, as searching for a rather unique term returned no results, so the docs could definitely do with some clarification.

[Xemdo]

Documentation has since been updated to make it less ambiguous:

To match, the beginning of the broadcaster’s name or category must match the query string. The comparison is case insensitive. If the query string is angel_of_death, it matches all names that begin with angel_of_death. However, if the query string is a phrase like angel of death, it matches to names starting with angelofdeath or names starting with angel_of_death.

This still leaves #545 to be determined as a bug or something to be filed as a feature request.