Less-than sign in folder name in Google Drive API V2/V3 - google-drive-api

Question

I have a folder with name b<bb in my Google Drive root folder. When I try to list folders where title/name contains b<bb, the Google Drive API doesn't return it, however it works when I try b<b.
Trying to send a request with query 'root' in parents and name contains 'b<bb':
https://content.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?q=%27root%27%20in%20parents%20and%20name%20contains%20%27b%3Cbb%27
The response is:
{
"kind": "drive#fileList",
"incompleteSearch": false,
"files": []
}
Trying to send a request with query 'root' in parents and name contains 'b<b':
https://content.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?q=%27root%27%20in%20parents%20and%20name%20contains%20%27b%3Cb%27
The response is:
{
"kind": "drive#fileList",
"incompleteSearch": false,
"files": [
{
"kind": "drive#file",
"id": "0B8nHPp6YUJPJOU80TWFqSVpkNWM",
"name": "b\u003cbb",
"mimeType": "application/vnd.google-apps.folder"
}
]
}
The same issue is also when I use Google Drive API V2. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I confirmed that when Drive API v2 is used for your situation, I got the same result. But at Drive API v3, the file information can be retrieved using the query of name="b<bb". On the other hand, it couldn't be done using name contains "b<bb"
About = and contains, there is a following comment from Google.
The drive UI search for the title isn't the same thing as using the query "name = '[filename]'". If you are looking for the same behavior as the drive web UI, they should do the query: fullText contains [filename] or, if you want prefix matching, you need to use "name" s.t... name contains [filename] Additionally, "name = [filename]" is case sensitive. If you use the operator "contains" instead of "=", then it's not case sensitive.
The comment can be seen at here.
The sample script using Drive API v3 is as follows.
Sample script :
var url = 'https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?fields=files(id,name)&q=name=' + encodeURIComponent('"b<bb"')
var params = {
method: "GET",
headers: {"Authorization": "Bearer " + ScriptApp.getOAuthToken()},
muteHttpExceptions: true
}
var res = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, params).getContentText();
Logger.log(res)
Logger.log(JSON.parse(res).files[0].name)
Result :
Logger.log(res)
{
"files": [
{
"id": "### file ID ###",
"name": "b\u003cbb"
}
]
}
Logger.log(JSON.parse(res).files[0].name)
b<bb
If this information is useful for you, I'm glad.