Sample Searches and URLs for United States Code

The United States Code can be searched using the Simple Search Box and the Advanced Search page. Once results are displayed, you can narrow your search results by clicking on links in the Narrow Your Search panel on the left hand side of the page. The sections under Narrow Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents. United States Code specific links to narrow your search results will be displayed after you click on United States Code under the Collection category.

Retrieve by Citation search can be used to retrieve a single United States Code document in PDF format if you know the Year, Title Number, Type and Section Number of the document. The United States Code can also be browsed in the Browse Government Publications area.

The following sections give examples of searches that you may want to use for the United States Code collection in FDsys.

Searching United States Code by Citation

These examples will search for 5 U.S.C. 303.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscode citation:"5 U.S.C. 303"
collection:uscode and citation:"5 U.S.C. 303"

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Code from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Code to the Selected Collections box
Select Citation from Search in
Enter “5 U.S.C. 303" in the textbox marked for

Using the Retrieve by Citation page,

Select United States Code from Collections pull down menu
Select 2008 from Year pull down menu
Select 5 from the Title pull down menu
Select U.S.C. from the Type pull down menu
Enter 303 in the Section box

Searching United States Code by Title Number

These examples will search for documents from Title 5 of United States Code.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscode usctitlenum:5
collection:uscode and usctitlenum:5

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Code from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Code to the Selected Collections box
Select U.S. Code Title Number from Search in
Enter 5 in the textbox marked for

Searching United States Code by Short Title

These examples will search for United States Code documents with the short title "Congressional Budget Act."

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscode shorttitle:"congressional budget act"
collection:uscode and shorttitle:"congressional budget act"

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Code from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Code to the Selected Collections box
Select Short Title from Search in
Enter "congressional budget act" in the textbox marked for

Searching United States Code by Public Law Citation

These examples will search for United States Code documents that reference Public Law 90-83.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscode plawcitation:"Public Law 90-83"
collection:uscode and plawcitation:"Public Law 90-83"

Searching United States Code by Statutes at Large Citation

These examples will search for United States Code documents that reference 77 Stat. 81.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter one of the following

collection:uscode statutecitation:"77 Stat. 81"
collection:uscode and statutecitation:"77 Stat. 81"

Search United States Code by Keyword

These examples will search for United States Code documents with emissions in the full text of the publication.

Using the Simple Search Box, enter the following:

emissions collection:uscode
emissions and collection:uscode

Using the Advanced Search page,

Select United States Code from Available Collections
Click Add to add United States Code to the Selected Collections box
Select Full Text of Publications and Metadata from Search in: pull down menu
Enter emissions in the textbox marked for

Sample United States Code URLs

FDsys uses two key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and the More Information pages. The Package ID is used to identify an individual title of the United States Code. The Granule ID is used to identify individual documents within the yearly title of the United States Code.

Identifier

Structure/Metadata Field

Examples

Package ID

USCODE-{Year}-title{Title Number}

USCODE-2009-title2

USCODE-2006-title45

Granule ID

Main Appendix Granule:

{Package ID}-app

Regular Appendix Granule:

{Package ID}-toc

{Package ID}-front

Regular Title Granules:

The structure of the United States Code varies from title to title. Because of this, the identifiers created are reliant upon the structure that exists for that individual title. To accomplish this, the URL for individual granules may also use the Parent ID of the parent granule that it falls beneath.

{Parent ID}-{Granule Label Value}{Granule Number}

Notes:

1. The Granule Label Values can be found in the table below.

2. Parent ID is the Package ID or Granule ID of the granule’s immediate parent.

3. If the resulting Granule ID is a duplicate then append “-dup#” to the end, where “#” is an integer representing the duplicate number. Examples: -dup1, -dup2

4. For granules one level below the title level that do not match any of the Granule Labels in the table below, the Granule Label Value is the granule’s title – converted to lowercase, with non-alphanumeric characters removed – up to 10 characters in length.

5. Granule Number can be blank.

Main Appendix Granule Example:

USCODE-2008-title28-app

Regular Appendix Granule Example:

USCODE-2008-title28-toc

USCODE-2008-title28-front

Regular Title Examples:

Chapter 1 of the USC Title:

USCODE-2004-title37-chap1

Front matter of USC Title 17:

USCODE-2004-title17-front

Part 2 of the USC Title:

USCODE-2008-title35-part2

Part A of Subtitle 1:

USCODE-2008-title36-subtitle1-partA

Part B of a Subchapter 3-A of Chapter 6A:

USCODE-2008-title42-chap6A-subchap3-A-partB

Subpart a of Part 1 of Division B of Subchapter I pf Chapter 129:

USCODE-2008-title42-chap129-subchapI-divsnB-part1-subparta

Subtitle child of the USC Title:

USCODE-2008-title26-subtitleK

Subtitle B of Subchapter 3 of Chapter 18:

USCODE-2008-title29-chap18-subchap1-subtitleB

Part 1 of Subtitle E of Subchapter 3 of Chapter 18:

USCODE-2008-title29-chap18-subchap3-subtitleE-part1

Rule 1 of Title 1 of a heading-less node in an appendix:

USCODE-2008-title28a-node94-title1-rule1

(94 is a made up identifier for the heading-less node, which would come from its sequence number).

Section 1 of a heading-less node in an appendix:

USCODE-2008-title5a-node137-sec1

(Sections in appendices are not unique; this is the second Sec. 1 in this appendix.)

Section 181 of the USC Title:

USCODE-2008-title13-sec181

(Even though this section is a child of a subchapter, a section in the main USC Title file is unique and doesn’t need the parent hierarchy.)

Granule Label	Granule Label Value
subtitle	subtitle
chapter	chap
subchapter	subchap
part	part
subpart	subpart
division	divsn
section	sec
appendix	app
title	title
rule	rule
form	form
article	article
toc	toc
frontmatter	front
other	other