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Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query>
    <search>
      <p ns="0" title="IRC FAQ" snippet="...ents also allow you to set it up so they send your password automatically, &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; you don&#039;t have to type it out each time. Take a moment to check out your so&#10;" size="9207" wordcount="1571" timestamp="2011-01-01T02:29:02Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="MeFiTaglines2" snippet="[http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/44957 Metafilter: no &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; except in so far as it signifies &#039;something not desirable&#039;]&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&#10;" size="75947" wordcount="11158" timestamp="2006-12-01T16:37:13Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="MeTaTaglines4" snippet=".../mefi/12158 Metafilter: A bit of puritanical demogogery absent from actual &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt;]&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&#10;" size="36613" wordcount="5246" timestamp="2006-12-01T19:29:26Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="Guidelines and Policies" snippet="...&#039; This is different from policies on MetaFilter, which is &amp;quot;self-policing,&amp;quot; &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; users have a tradition of &amp;quot;calling out&amp;quot; one another when they feel there&#039;s &#10;" size="8758" wordcount="1465" timestamp="2011-09-17T13:54:58Z" />
      <p ns="0" title="New MetaChat FAQ 2010" snippet="...en challenge you on the way you view the problem, or be dismissive without &lt;span class=&#039;searchmatch&#039;&gt;meaning&lt;/span&gt; to. Please don&#039;t take these things too hard, if they happen. We&#039;re all huma&#10;" size="10726" wordcount="1813" timestamp="2012-12-02T00:13:39Z" />
    </search>
  </query>
</api>