Accessing EDGAR Data

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Overview

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's HTTPS file system allows comprehensive access to the SEC's EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system) filings by corporations, funds, and individuals. These filings are disseminated to the public through the EDGAR Dissemination Service, currently operated under contract to Attain, LLC, which markets data directly to subscribers. The dissemination stream also populates the EDGAR public database on sec.gov, which can be researched through a variety of EDGAR public searches.

After early testing in 1992-93, beginning with 450 voluntary filers, companies began filing through EDGAR in 1994-95 with various phase-in periods for different form types. See Electronic Filing and the EDGAR System: A Regulatory Overview for more historical details.

Using the EDGAR Index Files

Indexes to all public filings are are available from 1994Q3 through the present and located in the following browsable directories:

  • /Archives/edgar/daily-index — daily index files through the current year;
  • /Archives/edgar/full-index — Full indexes offer a "bridge" between quarterly and daily indexes, compiling filings from the beginning of the current quarter through the previous business day. At the end of the quarter, the full index is rolled into a static quarterly index.

Each directory and all child subdirectories contain 3 files to assist in automated crawling of these directories. (Note that these are not visible through directory browsing.)

  • index.html (the web browser would normally receive these)
  • index.xml (an XML structured version of the same content)
  • index.json (a JSON structured vision of the same content)

The EDGAR indexes list the following information for each filing: Company Name, Form Type, CIK (Central Index Key), Date Filed, and File Name (including folder path).

Four types of indexes are available. The company, form, and master indexes contain the same information sorted differently.

  • company — sorted by company name
  • form — sorted by form type
  • master — sorted by CIK number
  • XBRL — list of submissions containing XBRL financial files, sorted by CIK number; these include Voluntary Filer Program submissions

Feed and Oldloads Directories

  • /Archives/edgar/Feed/ — tar and gzip archive files (e.g., 20061207.nc.tar.gz) for each filing day.

  • /Archives/edgar/Oldloads/ — daily concatenated archive files of all public filing submissions complete with the filing header.

Each directory and all child subdirectories contain 3 files to assist in automated crawling of these directories. (Note that these are not visible through directory browsing.)

  • index.html (the web browser would normally receive these)
  • index.xml (a XML structured version of the same content)
  • index.json (a JSON structured vision of the same content)

Paths and Directory Structure

The index paths link to the raw ascii text version of the complete disseminated filing content, for example:

/Archives/edgar/data/1122304/0001193125-15-118890.txt

Post-EDGAR 7.0 filings (after May 26, 2000) are also accessible via an alternative symbolic path incorporating an intermediate directory named by the accession number without dashes. All the documents submitted for a given filing will be in this directory:

/Archives/edgar/data/1122304/000119312515118890/0001193125-15-118890.txt

Other content that may be of interest using the root path:

Directory Browsing

Directory browsing is allowed for CIK and Accession Number directories. For example:

Each CIK directory and all child subdirectories contain 3 files to assist in automated crawling of these directories. (Note that these are not visible through directory browsing.)

  • index.html (the web browser would normally receive these)
  • index.xml (a XML structured version of the same content)
  • index.json (a JSON structured vision of the same content)

Important Note: The /Archives/edgar/data/ directory is not browsable.

General Notes

Central Index Key (CIK)

The CIK is the unique numerical identifier assigned by the EDGAR system to filers when they sign up to make filings to the SEC. CIK numbers remain unique to the filer; they are not recycled.

Accession Number

In the example above, "0001193125-15-118890" is the "accession number," a unique identifier assigned automatically to an accepted submission by the EDGAR Filer System. The first set of numbers (0001193125) is the CIK of the entity submitting the filing. This could be the company or a third-party filer agent. Some filer agents without a regulatory requirement to make disclosure filings with the SEC have a CIK but no searchable presence in the public EDGAR database. The next 2 numbers (15) represent the year. The last series of numbers represent a sequential count of submitted filings from that CIK. The count is usually, but not always, reset to 0 at the start of each calendar year.

Business Hours and Dissemination

EDGAR accepts new filer applications, new filings, and changes to filer data each business day, Monday through Friday, from 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M., Eastern Time. Indexes incorporating the current business day's filings are updated nightly starting at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), and the process is usually completed by 10:30 p.m. Some filing submissions that begin after 5:30 pm ET (10 pm for Ownership forms 3, 4, 5), will be disseminated the next business day, showing up in the following business day's index.

Post-Acceptance Corrections and Deletions

Filings are sometimes authorized by SEC staff for removal or correction for a variety of reasons at the filer's request including, but not limited to, the document was submitted for the wrong filer, the document was a duplicate of a previously filed document, the document in its current form was unreadable, or the document contained sensitive information. Corrections processed during a given business day will be incorporated in the indexes built that evening. However, removals processed on subsequent business days will not be reflected in any previous daily, feed, or oldload index. The full and quarterly index files are rebuilt weekly, early on Saturday mornings, so that any Post-Acceptance Correction (PAC)-deletes or updates are incorporated.

Paper Filings and Certified Records

For filings not available online, paper versions and certified records are available from Records and Information.

Virtual Private Reference Room (VPRR)

The VPRR directories contain PDF scans of some filings still submitted in paper. These files are not indexed. However, directory browsing is allowed:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/index.html

Each directory name is a 4-digit number corresponding to the first four digits of the Film Number/DCN.

Each directory contains three files that are not indicated in the directory listing, but which may be helpful for automated processes:

  • index.html (the directory listing you see in the browser)
  • index.xml
  • index.json

For example:

monthly

The monthly directory contains archival XBRL RSS files from April 2005, when the Voluntary Filer Program began for XBRL filing. See Structured Disclosure RSS Feeds for more information.

Fair Access

To ensure that everyone has equitable access to SEC EDGAR content, please use efficient scripting, downloading only what you need and please moderate requests to minimize server load. The SEC reserves the right to limit request rates to preserve fair access for all users. See Internet Security Policy.

Note: The SEC does not offer technical support for developing or debugging scripted downloading processes.

Documentation and Helpful Resources

Contact Information