Limiting

In the previous tutorial, we have explained the fundamentals of filtering API responses, which allows you to request the exact data you need.

However, sometimes the response can be rather large. In such cases, you can use our limiting feature. In this part of our tutorial, you will be able to limit your API responses.
What is limiting?
Limiting, as its name suggests, will limit the response you get from our API to a specific amount. Limiting your API responses can come in handy when you want to avoid big API responses.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how limiting is used and why it may be handy for you. Let's go!
Create the request
In this tutorial, we will request all the fixtures from the 20/21 season from the Scottish Premiership (season id: 17141). As for the endpoint, we’ll go with season by id.

Furthermore, as discussed in our includes tutorial, we’ll enrich the response with an include. In this case, we’ll use the include called fixtures
The below request will give you all the fixtures of the 20/21 season of the Scottish Premiership (season id: 17141). 
The response is enormous. Therefore, we've copied a small snippet instead of the full response.
Requests
Response
Field Description
https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/seasons/17141?api_token={API_TOKEN}&include=fixtures
{
    "data": {
        "id": 17141,
        "name": "2020/2021",
        "league_id": 501,
        "is_current_season": true,
        "current_round_id": 194976,
        "current_stage_id": 77447501,
        "fixtures": {
            "data": [
                {
                    "id": 16475283,
                    "league_id": 501,
                    "season_id": 17141,
                    "stage_id": 77447501,
                    "round_id": 194968,
                    "group_id": null,
                    "aggregate_id": null,
                    "venue_id": 281425,
                    "referee_id": 15818,
                    "localteam_id": 496,
                    "visitorteam_id": 258,
                    "winner_team_id": 496,
                    "weather_report": {
                        "code": "clouds",
                        "type": "broken clouds",
                        "icon": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/weather/04d.png",
                        "temperature": {
                            "temp": 60.62,
                            "unit": "fahrenheit"
                        },
                        "temperature_celcius": {
                            "temp": 15.9,
                            "unit": "celcius"
                        },
                        "clouds": "75%",
                        "humidity": "72%",
                        "pressure": 1013,
                        "wind": {
                            "speed": "5.82 m/s",
                            "degree": 300
                        },
                        "coordinates": {
                            "lat": 55.83,
                            "lon": -4.43
                        },
                        "updated_at": "2020-08-01T15:45:06.417645Z"
                    },
                    "commentaries": false,
                    "attendance": null,
                    "pitch": null,
                    "details": null,
                    "neutral_venue": false,
                    "winning_odds_calculated": true,
                    "formations": {
                        "localteam_formation": "4-2-3-1",
                        "visitorteam_formation": "3-4-2-1"
                    },
                    "scores": {
                        "localteam_score": 1,
                        "visitorteam_score": 0,
                        "localteam_pen_score": null,
                        "visitorteam_pen_score": null,
                        "ht_score": "1-0",
                        "ft_score": "1-0",
                        "et_score": null,
                        "ps_score": null
                    },
                    "time": {
                        "status": "FT",
                        "starting_at": {
                            "date_time": "2020-08-01 14:00:00",
                            "date": "2020-08-01",
                            "time": "14:00:00",
                            "timestamp": 1596290400,
                            "timezone": "UTC"
                        },
                        "minute": 90,
                        "second": null,
                        "added_time": null,
                        "extra_minute": null,
                        "injury_time": null
                    },
                    "coaches": {
                        "localteam_coach_id": 1621,
                        "visitorteam_coach_id": 22145896
                    },
                    "standings": {
                        "localteam_position": 3,
                        "visitorteam_position": 12
                    },
                    "assistants": {
                        "first_assistant_id": 12770,
                        "second_assistant_id": 36793,
                        "fourth_official_id": 19329
                    },
                    "leg": "1/1",
                    "colors": {
                        "localteam": {
                            "color": "#F0F0F0",
                            "kit_colors": "#F0F0F0,#F0F0F0,#0A0A0A,#0A0A0A,#0A0A0A,#FFDF1B,#F0F0F0"
                        },
                        "visitorteam": {
                            "color": "#FDBD0F",
                            "kit_colors": "#FDBD0F,#FDBD0F,#FAE403,#FAE403,#5C8FAE,#FFDF1B,#FDBD0F"
                        }
                    },
                    "deleted": false
                },
                
​
Season Field Description
Field
Description
data
Opens an array of data you've requested
id
The unique season id
name
The name of the season
league_id
The unique league id the season belongs to
is_current_season
Indicates if the season is the current one. Possible values are "true" or "false"
current_round_id
The unique id of the current round
current_stage_id
The unique id of the current stage
Fixtures Field Description
Field
Description
data
Opens an array of data you've requested
id
A unique fixture id
league_id
The unique id of the league the fixture belongs to
season_id
The unique id of the season the fixture belongs to
stage_id
The unique id of the stage the fixture belongs to
round_id
The unique id of the round the fixture belongs to
group_id
The unique id of the group the fixture belongs to
aggregate_id
Indicates if the fixture has an aggregated score
venue_id
The unique id of the venue the fixture is played at
referee_id
The unique id of the referee that is in charge of the fixture
localteam_id
The unique id of the local team
visitorteam_id
The unique id of the visitor team
winnerteam_id
Contains the id of the team that won the fixture
weather_report
Opens an array of weather details. Possible values of the data in this array can be found in our statuses and definitions​
commentaries
Indicates if this fixture has commentaries available
attendance
Give information about the visitor attendance of the fixture
pitch
Gives information about the pitch. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions​
details
Optional additional information.
neutral_venue
Indicates if the fixture was played at a neutral fixture. This often happens in cup finals
formations
Opens an array containing the lineup formations of the teams. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions​
scores
Opens an array containing the scores of the fixture
localteam_score
The amount of goals the local team has scored in this fixture
visitorteam_score
The amount of goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture
localteam_pen_score
The amount of penalty goals the local team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
visitorteam_pen_score
The amount of penalty goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
ht_score
The score at half time
ft_score
The score at full time (90 minutes)
et_score
The score in extra time (only available when the fixture goes into extra time)
ps_score
The score of the penalty shootout (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
time
Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture
status
Indicates in which phase the fixture is in. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions​
starting_at
Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture
date_time
Gives the date and time the fixture starts
date
Gives the date on which the fixture is played
time
Gives the starting time of the fixture
timestamp
The timestamp notation of the match
timezone
Indicates in which timezone you've requested the data
minute
Indicates in which minute the fixture is in
second
Indicates in which second the fixture is in
added_time
Indicates how many added time is added
extra_minute
Extra minute is when a fixture goes to extra time. Extra_minute will count from 0 to 15 and from 15 to 30.
injury_time
In case of added time it will end up in injury_minute
coaches
Opens an array containing the unique id's of the coaches
localteam_coach_id
The unique id of the coach from the local team
visitorteam_coach_id
The unique id of the coach from the visitor team
standings
Opens an array containing the standings of the local- and visitorteam
localteam_position
Indicates in which positions the local team is before the fixture
visitorteam_position
Indicates in which positions the visitor team is before the fixture
assistants
Opens an array containing the unique id's of the assistant referees
first_assistant_id
The unique id of the first assistant
second_assistant_id
The unique id of the second assistant
fourth_official_id
The unique id of the fourth official
leg
Indicates in how many legs this fixture is played
colors
Opens an array containing information about the team colors
localteam
Opens an array containing information about the local team colors
color
The main color code of the local team
kit_colors
The kit color codes of the local team
visitorteam
Opens an array containing information about the visitor team colors
color
The main color code of the visitor team
kit_colors
The kit color codes of the local team
deleted
Indicates if the team was deleted. More information: Keep in Sync​
is_placeholder
This property indicates if the resource is used to display dummy data. The false of this property will always be a boolean value.
Evaluate the response
Your first thought is probably: ‘Wow that’s an enormous response’. 

This is because football seasons tend to have a large number of matches. In order, to make the response more legible we can introduce a limit.
Limit the response
By limiting the response, we mean that you can limit the number of results per page. Let’s say we want to limit the response to only five results per page. You still need to use the fixtures include, but now you can add :limit(X|X).
The first attribute (X) is the number of records per page, while the second (X) is the page currently browsed. 
For example, if you want 5 fixtures per page and you want to browse the first page: &include=fixtures:limit(5|1)
https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/seasons/17141?api_token={API_TOKEN}&include=fixtures:limit(5|1)
Now there are only five results per page! Moreover, you can simply replace the ‘1’ in (5|1) for a ‘2’, if you want to go to the second page. And just like that, you have successfully limited an API response! 
Note that paginating through includes count towards your request limit
You’ve learnt how to filter and limit your response. Next up you will learn how to sort the API response.  
Filtering
Sorting
Last modified 1yr ago
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Outline
What is limiting?
Create the request
Evaluate the response
Limit the response