[UA] Filters and segments [Legacy]

You are viewing a legacy article about Universal Analytics. Learn more about Google Analytics 4 replacing Universal Analytics.

Developers supply filters and segments to Reporting API requests to get subsets of Analytics data. They often ask these questions:

• What are the differences between filters and segments?
• When to use filters and when to use segments?

The following sections answer these questions.

Differences between filters and segments

Consider the following three user sessions between time T₁ and T₂:

Using a segment to request a subset of Analytics data, the following query:

  Dimension: ga:pathPath (Pagepath)
  Metric: ga:pageviews (Pageviews)
  Segment: users::condition::ga:pagePath!=pathToPageB

 

produces this report:

Page	Pageviews
pathToPageA	1

 

For the specified segment, every user session is checked against the segment condition (ga:pagePath!=pathToPageB). For user sessions that meet the condition, all rows are returned; for user sessions that don't meet the condition, no rows are returned. Because segments operate at the session level, the pageview of Page A at session 2 is excluded because the session includes a pageview of Page B. 

Using a filter to request a subset of Analytics data, the following query:

  Dimension: ga:pathPath (Pagepath)
  Metric: ga:pageviews (Pageviews)
  Filter: ga:pagePath!=pathToPageB

 

produces this report:

Page	Pageviews
pathToPageA	2

 

For the specified filter, all rows of all sessions are examined; only the rows that meet the filter condition (ga:pagePath!=pathToPageB) are returned. Because filters operate at the hit level, the pageview of Page A at session 2 is included although the session includes a pageview of Page B. To a Reporting API request, Analytics returns data representing rows in a table. Filters and segments can be used together to get subsets of Analytics data:

  Dimensions: ga:country and ga:browser
  Metric: ga:pageviews
  Filter: ga:country==Canada
  Segment: users::condition::ga:browser==Chrome

When to use Filters and when to use Segments

The following are supported by segments only:

• Sequences
• In list operator []
• Between (range) operator <>

For example:

• Get users who used a Windows desktop and then a mobile Android device:

    users::sequence::ga:deviceCategory==desktop;
    ga:operatingSystem==Windows->>
    ga:deviceCategory==mobile;
    ga:operatingSystem==Android
  

• Get sessions where the browser was Chrome, Firefox, or Opera:

    sessions::condition::ga:browser[]Chrome|Firefox|Opera
  

• Get sessions in the hours 15 to 22:

    sessions::condition::ga:hour<>15_22
  

As another example, the following complex expression can be specified in a segment only:

  users::condition::perSession::ga:screenviews>5;
  sessions::condition::ga:adGroup=@aaa,
  ga:adTargetingType=@bbb;condition::
  ga:mobileInputSelector=@ccc;ga:campaign=@ddd

 

To get a specific hit (for example, ga:pageviews) from all sessions that match a condition, use a filter:

  filters=ga:pagePath=@analytis/devguides/reporting