# How come i cant grab all rss items from a feed **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 4, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704 "2009-04-04T12:28:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scudco)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704/1 "2009-04-04T12:28:56Z")
When i try and access the bbc feed it will only return the latest 40 results. However if i use the same feed in google reader, it can return a lot more. Why is this and how do i modify the code below so that i can return more results. Heres some code require ‘rss/1.0’ require ‘rss/2.0’ require ‘open-uri’ require ‘rss/parser’ source = “[\](http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_edition/uk_news/rss.xml)” # url or local file content = “” # raw content of rss feed will be loaded here open(source) do |s| content = s.read end rss = RSS::Parser.parse(content, false) (rss.items.length == 40ish) ---
**Author:** ![scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scudco)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704/2 "2009-04-04T13:20:52Z")
I’d suggest you check which headers your browser is sending. Particularly the Last-Modified and Etag. Replicate those and you will see the same amount of items. Ben ---
**Author:** ![scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scudco)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704/3 "2009-04-04T16:37:36Z")
hi ben, thanks for the reply. Im a bit confused though. When i type the address into the browser it shows 40 items just as the code above does. When i access the feed via google reader it shows more. I wondering what magic google is using to get more items than my browser or my rss code can. ---
**Author:** ![scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scudco)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704/4 "2009-04-04T17:05:33Z")
Adam A. wrote: > When i access the feed via google reader it shows more. I wondering what > magic google is using to get more items than my browser or my rss code > can. I think this could be because google caches items internally, from the moment someone subscribes to the feed for the first time. Then it just periodically updates the feed and caches new items. To simulate google behavior you would need to go back in time and start fetching items from the moment you need. Unless there’s some api on the feed itself, in which case you’d have to ask owners of the feed. ---
**Author:** ![scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scudco)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704/5 "2009-04-04T18:39:17Z")
> When i access the feed via google reader it shows more. I wondering what > magic google is using to get more items than my browser or my rss code > can. Ah I have to admit I glossed over the fact you were using Google Reader. As Snaury said, they would certainly employ caching at their end which should display results beyond the ones you are seeing. Ben ---
**Author:** ![scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scudco)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704/6 "2009-04-05T05:17:26Z")
ahhh thank you for confirming my suspicions. Customized Deloreans with flux capacitors are a bit hard to come by these days so I guess ill have to settle with 40 a day. Thank you for your help! ---
**Author:** ![scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@scudco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scudco)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-come-i-cant-grab-all-rss-items-from-a-feed/164704/7 "2009-04-05T19:25:32Z")
If it is utterly important you _could_ possibly use the google reader api to get at those entries. Might be a little easier than going back in time 😉