> Source: https://ashareapi.com/en/wiki/empty-result/  ·  Markdown version for LLMs / AI agents

Reference

# Empty result is not a failure
 An empty array usually means there was no data for this request, not that the API is broken — a malformed code, a market holiday, or data that has not been disclosed yet all look like this. Empty results do not consume quota; work through the list below first.

## Two fields tell you everything

 An empty result is **explicit** here:

```
{ "ok": false, "endpoint": "quote", "tier": "free", "elapsed_ms": 700, "source": "multi", "data": [] }
```
 

- The **HTTP status is still 200** (the envelope is the body);


- **ok: false** means no data was retrieved and `data` is an empty array;


- Conversely, **when ok is true, data is never empty** — an empty result never masquerades as success.




## Which empty results are normal

 Most common first:

 
 | 

| 
 | Situation 
 | What you see 
 | What to do 




 

| 
 | **Malformed code** 
 | `ok:false` + empty array 
 | **By far the most common.** No prefix, dot notation and an uppercase prefix all return empty ⇒ see the [code format reference](/en/wiki/code-format) 



| 
 | **Code does not exist** 
 | same 
 | Confirm the code with `/v1/search` 



| 
 | **This instrument has nothing for this dataset** 
 | empty array 
 | e.g. not on the Dragon-Tiger list means there is no Dragon-Tiger data — that is normal 



| 
 | **Data not yet disclosed** 
 | empty / with an explanation 
 | e.g. margin data or financials before the disclosure date — the upstream explains why 



| 
 | **Unsupported code for that endpoint** 
 | empty array 
 | `/v1/snapshot` **supports A-shares only**; Hong Kong or US codes return empty (rather than wrong data) 






 ⚠️ **A market holiday is not an “empty” result** — quotes return the last trading day’s data, and the data date is in `date` ⇒ see [data freshness](/en/wiki/freshness).


## Empty results do not consume quota

 **If no data was retrieved, you are not charged and no anonymous quota is used** — upstream failures, empty results and parameter-driven empties all refund the call.


## Telling a normal empty result from a real failure

 

- **Check the HTTP status** — 200 means a business result; 4xx / 5xx means a request-layer problem.


- **Check whether ok exists** — if `ok` is present it is the envelope (a business result); if the top level is `error` or `detail` with no `ok`, it is a request-layer error.


- **Check the value of ok** — `ok:false` with empty `data` means no data this time; an upstream fetch failure returns **502** with `Retry-After`, not 200.




## Common misuses

 

- **Assuming the API is down because the array is empty** — check the code format first; that is the usual cause.


- **Reading data[0] without checking ok** — an empty array raises an index error.


- **Treating “no data for this instrument” as a failure** — not being on a list, or data not yet disclosed, is a normal empty result.


- **Calling snapshot with a Hong Kong or US code** — A-shares only; it returns empty.




 Last updated: 2026-10-05
 The empty-result rules come from the data-layer implementation; the code-format cases and HTTP status codes were measured live on 2026-10-05.

 Read next

-
[Errors and rate limits](/en/docs/errors)

-
[Response envelope](/en/wiki/envelope)

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