# API call: get results in the same format for DESCRIBE and SELECT including language of literals **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [January 31, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://community.stardog.com/t/api-call-get-results-in-the-same-format-for-describe-and-select-including-language-of-literals/4223 "2023-01-31T12:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JasBo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@JasBo](https://community.stardog.com/u/JasBo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://community.stardog.com/t/api-call-get-results-in-the-same-format-for-describe-and-select-including-language-of-literals/4223/1 "2023-01-31T12:32:31Z")
Hello community, when calling STARDOGs API with a POST request using Postman, when sending a SELECT query, I get the result in XML format: ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/stardog/original/2X/9/9e1f189c72be5bd59fae2c3d40b9f0ff1a4a9efa.png) but when a DESCRIBE query is thrown at it, it responds with what looks like TURTLE syntax: ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/stardog/original/2X/a/a34d21f4bec69844d41891e31e5818539931f4d5.png) Is there a way to get a consistent response? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Heling](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.stardog.com/lars_heling/32/1657_2.png) [@Lars\_Heling](https://community.stardog.com/u/Lars_Heling)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://community.stardog.com/t/api-call-get-results-in-the-same-format-for-describe-and-select-including-language-of-literals/4223/2 "2023-01-31T12:45:09Z")
Hi Jasper, the difference in the result format is caused by the query type that you are using (i.e., SELECT vs DESCRIBE). Simply speaking: SELECT returns a set of mappings from variables to RDF terms and DESCRIBE returns an RDF graph (set of RDF triples). See also the specification for details on [Describe](https://www.w3.org/TR/2013/REC-sparql11-query-20130321/#describe): "The `DESCRIBE` form returns a single result RDF graph containing RDF data about resources." And for [Select](https://www.w3.org/TR/2013/REC-sparql11-query-20130321/#select): "The SELECT form of results returns variables and their bindings directly. " They can be encoded in different formats: [SPARQL 1.1 Query Results JSON Format](http://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-results-json/), [SPARQL Query Results XML Format](http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-XMLres/) or [SPARQL 1.1 Query Results CSV and TSV Formats](http://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-results-csv-tsv/). I hope this clarifies the difference. Best regards Lars ---
**Author:** ![JasBo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@JasBo](https://community.stardog.com/u/JasBo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 1:23pm UTC](https://community.stardog.com/t/api-call-get-results-in-the-same-format-for-describe-and-select-including-language-of-literals/4223/3 "2023-01-31T13:23:47Z")
Hi @Lars_Heling, thanks for the quick reply! That makes sense. So to just get all the infos provided by `DESCRIBE` in the same format, I would basically have to run a simple ` select * where{?s ?p ?o .}` query on the RDF graph resulting from the `DESCRIBE `, right? (or just go ahead and run `SELECT * WHERE { ?p ?o .}` on my original data in the first place, though this also returns all the blank nodes) ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Heling](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.stardog.com/lars_heling/32/1657_2.png) [@Lars\_Heling](https://community.stardog.com/u/Lars_Heling)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 1:50pm UTC](https://community.stardog.com/t/api-call-get-results-in-the-same-format-for-describe-and-select-including-language-of-literals/4223/4 "2023-01-31T13:50:22Z")
Hi @JasBo, yes, as you suggested you can also use the `SELECT * WHERE { ?p ?o .}` query to get the same result. This returns all outgoing edges of ``. See also details in the [documentation](https://docs.stardog.com/tutorials/learn-sparql#describe-queries). Best regards Lars