Address patterns

A pattern is one address that stands for many: photo[1-50].jpg means fifty addresses. You type it where you would type an address, and NeoDownloader expands it before the run starts.

What you can write

Pattern	What it stands for
[1-50]	the numbers from 1 to 50
[001-100]	the numbers from 1 to 100 with their zeros kept: 001, 002, …
[0-50:5]	every fifth number: 0, 5, 10, …
[a-z]	the letters from a to z
{red,green,blue}	each of the words in turn
[#1]	whatever the first pattern in the address took, repeated here

Two patterns in one address multiply: photo[1-9]-[a-c].jpg is twenty-seven addresses. [#1] repeats a value instead of multiplying, so https://example.com/[a-c]/gallery-[#1].jpg is three addresses and not nine; [#2] repeats the second pattern, and so on.

Where to type one

In New project, in the address field, where a plain address goes; Add more addresses takes one pattern per line, mixed with ordinary addresses as you like. See What do you want to download?

Before the project is created, the plugin card says how many addresses the pattern in the first line stands for - ×50 beside the plugin that will take it. An address that expanded by accident is visible there, rather than in the journal after the run. If that pattern stands for more addresses than NeoDownloader will take from one pattern, it is refused on that same card, and the message names both numbers.

Which plugins take them

All of them. A pattern is turned into ordinary addresses before the run starts, so it works with whichever plugin suits the site:

• https://example.com/photo[001-200].jpg - two hundred files for Direct links;
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={S8EJXfiqjK0,RDS8EJXfiqjK0} - two videos for Video Downloader;
• https://example.com/gallery/page[1-20] - twenty pages for Crawler.

What each plugin takes is in Plugins. The project keeps the pattern as you typed it: its Properties show photo[1-50].jpg, not fifty lines.

When brackets are just brackets

Brackets that do not form a pattern are left alone: ?tags[]=cat, filter[type]=photo, an address carrying %5B1-3%5D, or a host like http://[::1]:8080/. Curly brackets are a list of words only when they hold plain words separated by commas, so JSON in a query - ?data={"size":"large","page":2} - is an address, not a list.

Try a pattern before you download

The Link builder on this site expands a pattern in your browser and shows the whole list; the Address patterns guide walks through the same syntax with examples. The builder also takes a list of your own values, written [#LIST] in the pattern. NeoDownloader has no field for that: paste those addresses as separate lines instead.