CODEWITHSUNDEEP
youtubeyoutube-api
sricks
sricks

Reputation: 409

How to tell the difference between a channel ID and YouTube username?

I need to accept a Youtube Channel ID OR Youtube username as input, and create a subscribe button for it.

Google has just changed the syntax, so that if it's a channel ID, you use this:

<div class="g-ytsubscribe" data-channelid="UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw" data-layout="default" data-count="default"></div>

But if it's a channel name you omit the id from the attribute. https://developers.google.com/youtube/youtube_subscribe_button

You must specify a value for one of the following two attributes: data-channel – The name of the channel associated with the button. Sample value: GoogleDevelopers. data-channelid – The channel ID associated with the button. Sample value: UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw

What would be an easy way to tell if it's a channel ID or username?

All channels I have seen start with UC but that doesn't seem to be definitive: YouTube channel and playlist ID prefixes

Who knows why they did this but it's breaking many subscribe buttons as a result :(

Upvotes: 4

Views: 2125

Answers (1)

johnh10
johnh10

Reputation: 4185

Just check if your input field starts with "UC_", "HC_", etc. for a channel per your link above. If not then it's a username.

Upvotes: 1

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