# Retrieve all categories

## API Overview

Categories can help organize your email analytics by enabling you to group emails by type. Just as you can view the statistics on all your email activity, you can go a step further and view the statistics by a particular category.

> \[!WARNING]
>
> Effective February 1, 2022, Twilio SendGrid will limit the number of stored category statistics available per user. Accounts on a paid plan will be allowed 1,000 categories daily. Accounts on a free plan will be allowed 100 categories daily. For more information about this change, see the [Limitations](/docs/sendgrid/for-developers/sending-email/categories#limitations) section of our "[Working with Categories](/docs/sendgrid/for-developers/sending-email/categories)" page.

> \[!NOTE]
>
> Category statistics are available for the previous thirteen months only.

## Operation overview

```json
{"path":"https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/categories","method":"get","servers":[{"url":"https://api.sendgrid.com","description":"for global users and subusers"},{"url":"https://api.eu.sendgrid.com","description":"for EU regional subusers"}]}
```

**This endpoint allows you to retrieve a paginated list of all of your categories.**

You can use the `limit` query parameter to set the page size. If your list contains more items than the page size permits, you can make multiple requests. Use the `offset` query parameter to control the position in the list from which to start retrieving additional items.

## Operation details

### Authentication

API Key

### Headers

```json
[{"in":"header","name":"Authorization","required":true,"default":"Bearer <<YOUR_API_KEY_HERE>>","schema":{"type":"string"}},{"name":"on-behalf-of","in":"header","description":"The `on-behalf-of` header allows you to make API calls from a parent account on behalf of the parent's Subusers or customer accounts. You will use the parent account's API key when using this header. When making a call on behalf of a customer account, the property value should be \"account-id\" followed by the customer account's ID (e.g., `on-behalf-of: account-id <account-id>`). When making a call on behalf of a Subuser, the property value should be the Subuser's username (e.g., `on-behalf-of: <subuser-username>`). See [**On Behalf Of**](/docs/sendgrid/api-reference/how-to-use-the-sendgrid-v3-api/on-behalf-of) for more information.","required":false,"schema":{"type":"string"},"refName":"#/components/parameters/OnBehalfOf","modelName":"__components_parameters_OnBehalfOf"}]
```

### Query string

```json
[{"name":"limit","in":"query","description":"`limit` sets the page size, i.e. maximum number of items from the list to be returned for a single API request. If omitted, the default page size is used.","schema":{"type":"integer","minimum":1,"default":50}},{"name":"category","in":"query","description":"Allows you to perform a prefix search on this particular category.","schema":{"type":"string"}},{"name":"offset","in":"query","required":false,"description":"The number of items in the list to skip over before starting to retrieve the items for the requested page. The default `offset` of `0` represents the beginning of the list, i.e. the start of the first page. To request the second page of the list, set the `offset` to the page size as determined by `limit`. Use multiples of the page size as your `offset` to request further consecutive pages. E.g. assume your page size is set to `10`. An `offset` of `10` requests the second page, an `offset` of `20` requests the third page and so on, provided there are sufficiently many items in your list.","schema":{"type":"integer","minimum":0,"default":0},"refName":"#/components/parameters/PaginationCommonOffset","modelName":"__components_parameters_PaginationCommonOffset"}]
```

### Responses

```json
[{"responseCode":"200","schema":{"description":"","content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object","required":["category"],"properties":{"category":{"type":"string","description":"A category used to group emails by broad topic."}}}},"examples":{"response":{"value":[{"category":"category 1"},{"category":"category 2"}]}}}}}},{"responseCode":"400","schema":{"description":"","content":{"application/json":{"schema":{"type":"object","properties":{"errors":{"type":"array","description":"The error returned.","items":{"type":"object","required":["field","message"],"properties":{"field":{"type":"string"},"message":{"type":"string","description":"A message explaining why your categories could not be retrieved."}}}}}},"examples":{"response":{"value":{"errors":[{"field":"sort_by","message":"invalid sort value"}]}}}}}}}]
```

## Retrieving paginated results

To perform a request for the first page of the paginated list of all categories using the default page size, you can omit the `limit` and `offset` query parameters:

Retrieve first page from list of all categories

```js
const client = require("@sendgrid/client");
client.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);

const queryParams = { limit: 50 };

const request = {
  url: `/v3/categories`,
  method: "GET",
  qs: queryParams,
};

client
  .request(request)
  .then(([response, body]) => {
    console.log(response.statusCode);
    console.log(response.body);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });
```

```python
import os
from sendgrid import SendGridAPIClient


sg = SendGridAPIClient(os.environ.get("SENDGRID_API_KEY"))

params = {"limit": 50}

response = sg.client.categories.get(query_params=params)

print(response.status_code)
print(response.body)
print(response.headers)
```

```csharp
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using SendGrid;

public class Program {
    public static async Task Main() {
        string apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SENDGRID_API_KEY");
        var client = new SendGridClient(apiKey);

        var queryParams = @"{'limit': 50}";

        var response = await client.RequestAsync(
            method: SendGridClient.Method.GET, urlPath: "categories", queryParams: queryParams);

        Console.WriteLine(response.StatusCode);
        Console.WriteLine(response.Body.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);
        Console.WriteLine(response.Headers.ToString());
    }
}
```

```java
import com.sendgrid.*;
import java.io.IOException;

public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        try {
            SendGrid sg = new SendGrid(System.getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY"));
            Request request = new Request();
            request.setMethod(Method.GET);
            request.setEndpoint("/categories");
            request.addQueryParam("limit", "50");
            Response response = sg.api(request);
            System.out.println(response.getStatusCode());
            System.out.println(response.getBody());
            System.out.println(response.getHeaders());
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            throw ex;
        }
    }
}
```

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/sendgrid/sendgrid-go"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	apiKey := os.Getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY")
	host := "https://api.sendgrid.com"
	request := sendgrid.GetRequest(apiKey, "/v3/categories", host)
	request.Method = "GET"
	queryParams := make(map[string]string)
	queryParams["limit"] = "50"
	request.QueryParams = queryParams
	response, err := sendgrid.API(request)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err.Error())
		os.Exit(1)
	} else {
		fmt.Println(response.StatusCode)
		fmt.Println(response.Body)
		fmt.Println(response.Headers)
	}
}
```

```php
<?php
// Uncomment the next line if you're using a dependency loader (such as Composer) (recommended)
// require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// Uncomment next line if you're not using a dependency loader (such as Composer)
// require_once '<PATH TO>/sendgrid-php.php';

$apiKey = getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY");
$sg = new \SendGrid($apiKey);
$query_params = json_decode('{
    "limit": 50
}');

try {
    $response = $sg->client->categories()->get(null, $query_params);
    print $response->statusCode() . "\n";
    print_r($response->headers());
    print $response->body() . "\n";
} catch (Exception $ex) {
    echo "Caught exception: " . $ex->getMessage();
}
```

```ruby
require 'sendgrid-ruby'
include SendGrid

sg = SendGrid::API.new(api_key: ENV['SENDGRID_API_KEY'])
params = JSON.parse('{
  "limit": 50
}')

response = sg.client.categories.get(query_params: params)
puts response.status_code
puts response.headers
puts response.body
```

```bash
curl -G -X GET "https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/categories?limit=50" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $SENDGRID_API_KEY"
```

If you want to specify a page size of your choice, you can use the `limit` query parameter. Assume you want a page size of no more than 5 items per request, to retrieve the first page you can use the `limit` parameter without specifying an `offset`:

Retrieve first page from list of all categories with a specified page size

```js
const client = require("@sendgrid/client");
client.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);

const queryParams = { limit: 5 };

const request = {
  url: `/v3/categories`,
  method: "GET",
  qs: queryParams,
};

client
  .request(request)
  .then(([response, body]) => {
    console.log(response.statusCode);
    console.log(response.body);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });
```

```python
import os
from sendgrid import SendGridAPIClient


sg = SendGridAPIClient(os.environ.get("SENDGRID_API_KEY"))

params = {"limit": 5}

response = sg.client.categories.get(query_params=params)

print(response.status_code)
print(response.body)
print(response.headers)
```

```csharp
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using SendGrid;

public class Program {
    public static async Task Main() {
        string apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SENDGRID_API_KEY");
        var client = new SendGridClient(apiKey);

        var queryParams = @"{'limit': 5}";

        var response = await client.RequestAsync(
            method: SendGridClient.Method.GET, urlPath: "categories", queryParams: queryParams);

        Console.WriteLine(response.StatusCode);
        Console.WriteLine(response.Body.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);
        Console.WriteLine(response.Headers.ToString());
    }
}
```

```java
import com.sendgrid.*;
import java.io.IOException;

public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        try {
            SendGrid sg = new SendGrid(System.getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY"));
            Request request = new Request();
            request.setMethod(Method.GET);
            request.setEndpoint("/categories");
            request.addQueryParam("limit", "5");
            Response response = sg.api(request);
            System.out.println(response.getStatusCode());
            System.out.println(response.getBody());
            System.out.println(response.getHeaders());
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            throw ex;
        }
    }
}
```

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/sendgrid/sendgrid-go"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	apiKey := os.Getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY")
	host := "https://api.sendgrid.com"
	request := sendgrid.GetRequest(apiKey, "/v3/categories", host)
	request.Method = "GET"
	queryParams := make(map[string]string)
	queryParams["limit"] = "5"
	request.QueryParams = queryParams
	response, err := sendgrid.API(request)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err.Error())
		os.Exit(1)
	} else {
		fmt.Println(response.StatusCode)
		fmt.Println(response.Body)
		fmt.Println(response.Headers)
	}
}
```

```php
<?php
// Uncomment the next line if you're using a dependency loader (such as Composer) (recommended)
// require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// Uncomment next line if you're not using a dependency loader (such as Composer)
// require_once '<PATH TO>/sendgrid-php.php';

$apiKey = getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY");
$sg = new \SendGrid($apiKey);
$query_params = json_decode('{
    "limit": 5
}');

try {
    $response = $sg->client->categories()->get(null, $query_params);
    print $response->statusCode() . "\n";
    print_r($response->headers());
    print $response->body() . "\n";
} catch (Exception $ex) {
    echo "Caught exception: " . $ex->getMessage();
}
```

```ruby
require 'sendgrid-ruby'
include SendGrid

sg = SendGrid::API.new(api_key: ENV['SENDGRID_API_KEY'])
params = JSON.parse('{
  "limit": 5
}')

response = sg.client.categories.get(query_params: params)
puts response.status_code
puts response.headers
puts response.body
```

```bash
curl -G -X GET "https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/categories?limit=5" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $SENDGRID_API_KEY"
```

If you want to retrieve items beyond the first page, you can use the `offset` parameter as follows. Assume you are still working with a page size of 5 as determined by your `limit` query parameter and you have more than 15 items. To request the fourth page of items, you can use the `offset` parameter to skip over the first 15 items, i.e. you start retrieving items starting after the first three pages of 5 items each:

Retrieve a specific page from the list of all categories

```js
const client = require("@sendgrid/client");
client.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);

const queryParams = {
  limit: 5,
  offset: 15,
};

const request = {
  url: `/v3/categories`,
  method: "GET",
  qs: queryParams,
};

client
  .request(request)
  .then(([response, body]) => {
    console.log(response.statusCode);
    console.log(response.body);
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error);
  });
```

```python
import os
from sendgrid import SendGridAPIClient


sg = SendGridAPIClient(os.environ.get("SENDGRID_API_KEY"))

params = {"limit": 5, "offset": 15}

response = sg.client.categories.get(query_params=params)

print(response.status_code)
print(response.body)
print(response.headers)
```

```csharp
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using SendGrid;

public class Program {
    public static async Task Main() {
        string apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SENDGRID_API_KEY");
        var client = new SendGridClient(apiKey);

        var queryParams = @"{'limit': 5, 'offset': 15}";

        var response = await client.RequestAsync(
            method: SendGridClient.Method.GET, urlPath: "categories", queryParams: queryParams);

        Console.WriteLine(response.StatusCode);
        Console.WriteLine(response.Body.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);
        Console.WriteLine(response.Headers.ToString());
    }
}
```

```java
import com.sendgrid.*;
import java.io.IOException;

public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        try {
            SendGrid sg = new SendGrid(System.getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY"));
            Request request = new Request();
            request.setMethod(Method.GET);
            request.setEndpoint("/categories");
            request.addQueryParam("limit", "5");
            request.addQueryParam("offset", "15");
            Response response = sg.api(request);
            System.out.println(response.getStatusCode());
            System.out.println(response.getBody());
            System.out.println(response.getHeaders());
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            throw ex;
        }
    }
}
```

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/sendgrid/sendgrid-go"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	apiKey := os.Getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY")
	host := "https://api.sendgrid.com"
	request := sendgrid.GetRequest(apiKey, "/v3/categories", host)
	request.Method = "GET"
	queryParams := make(map[string]string)
	queryParams["limit"] = "5"
	queryParams["offset"] = "15"
	request.QueryParams = queryParams
	response, err := sendgrid.API(request)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err.Error())
		os.Exit(1)
	} else {
		fmt.Println(response.StatusCode)
		fmt.Println(response.Body)
		fmt.Println(response.Headers)
	}
}
```

```php
<?php
// Uncomment the next line if you're using a dependency loader (such as Composer) (recommended)
// require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// Uncomment next line if you're not using a dependency loader (such as Composer)
// require_once '<PATH TO>/sendgrid-php.php';

$apiKey = getenv("SENDGRID_API_KEY");
$sg = new \SendGrid($apiKey);
$query_params = json_decode('{
    "limit": 5,
    "offset": 15
}');

try {
    $response = $sg->client->categories()->get(null, $query_params);
    print $response->statusCode() . "\n";
    print_r($response->headers());
    print $response->body() . "\n";
} catch (Exception $ex) {
    echo "Caught exception: " . $ex->getMessage();
}
```

```ruby
require 'sendgrid-ruby'
include SendGrid

sg = SendGrid::API.new(api_key: ENV['SENDGRID_API_KEY'])
params = JSON.parse('{
  "limit": 5,
  "offset": 15
}')

response = sg.client.categories.get(query_params: params)
puts response.status_code
puts response.headers
puts response.body
```

```bash
curl -G -X GET "https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/categories?limit=5&offset=15" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $SENDGRID_API_KEY"
```