APIs

RxNorm API

getDisplayTerms

Information returned
Strings to support auto-completion in a user interface
Service domain
https://rxnav.nlm.nih.gov
HTTP request
GET  /REST/displaynames.xml

Description

Gets the names used by RxNav for auto completion. This is a large list which includes names of ingredients, precise ingredients, brands, and synonyms of branded packs.

Scope

Active: concepts in the current RxNorm data set that have an atom with SAB=RXNORM and SUPPRESS=N

Parameters

ParameterLocationUseDescriptionDefault
formatPathOptional

Notation for results

One of:
.xml
Get results in XML
.json
Get results in JSON
.xml

Note that HTTP requires that query parameters be "URL encoded". For full information on URL encoding, please refer to IETF RFC 3986, "Uniform Resource Identifier".

Output structure

Results are available as either XML or JSON.

  • The XML result has the root element rxnormdata. It is described in the XML Schema for the RxNorm API; the relevant element structure is summarized below. Elements that would be empty might be left out.

  • The JSON result is an object {...}, analogous to the content of the XML rxnormdata. Fields that might occur multiple times in the XML are expressed as an array. Fields that would be empty might be null or left out. Numbers are expressed as strings.

Both XML and JSON results follow the same outline:

rxnormdata
Root element in XML, or anonymous object in JSON
displayTermsList
term (array)
Concept name

Example: Display terms

XML: https://rxnav.nlm.nih.gov/REST/displaynames

JSON: https://rxnav.nlm.nih.gov/REST/displaynames.json

An XML result is shown below.

<rxnormdata>
    <displayTermsList>
        <term>(((1-methyl-2-(5-methyl-3-oxazolidinyl)ethoxy)methoxy)methoxy)methanol</term>
        <term>((2s,3s,5s)-2-(2-(2,6-dimethylphenoxy)acetamido)-5-((s)-3-methyl-2-(2-oxotetrahydropyrimidin-1(2h)-yl)butanamido)-1,6-diphenylhexan-3-yl) 3-methyl-2-(2-oxotetrahydropyrimidin-1(2h)-yl)butanoate, (s)-</term>
        ...
    </displayTermsList>
</rxnormdata>