How can I find out the number of times an RSK transaction has been confirmed on the RSK blockchain?

Transactions do not have a confirmation count per se, but the blocks that they are a part of do indeed have confirmation counts. Thus, the solution lies in "comparing" the block number of a particular transaction.

Using curl

There are several ways to do this, and the easiest method is the eth_getTransactionByHash JSON-RPC method:

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type:application/json" \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_getTransactionByHash","params":["0xf1ebb8076ad289fbaef4406bb0488be0c5605a58cfa2a6d11540b1f9b0d7ef98"],"id":1}' \
  https://public-node.testnet.rsk.co

The above cURL command is for transaction 0xf1ebb8076ad289fbaef4406bb0488be0c5605a58cfa2a6d11540b1f9b0d7ef98 on the RSK Testnet. The response is copied below:

{
   "result" : {
      "input" : "0xcbf8...(redacted)",
      "nonce" : "0xda62",
      "blockNumber" : "0x17fe5c",
      "gasPrice" : "0x3938700",
      "hash" : "0xf1ebb8076ad289fbaef4406bb0488be0c5605a58cfa2a6d11540b1f9b0d7ef98",
      "blockHash" : "0xede9aa2ff4939482186d4e6bd269582352a923db13ef90ad7def0d0dec17a239",
      "r" : "0x8c98a16250d157db1fb11e1304684943796710e3f1292a4fb60a0711692f2b8f",
      "value" : "0x0",
      "s" : "0x49cdc35f66dbea2ba88e3c52dc3f4c68498b844dd79eebafc326803e7163f7fc",
      "transactionIndex" : "0x0",
      "gas" : "0x17c65",
      "from" : "0xd761cc1ceb991631d431f6dde54f07828f2e61d2",
      "to" : "0x8bf2f24afbb9dbe4f2a54fd72748fc797bb91f81",
      "v" : "0x1c"
   },
   "jsonrpc" : "2.0",
   "id" : 1
}

From "blockNumber" : "0x17fe5c" we know that the block number of this particular block is 1572444.

The next step is to compare this block number of this transaction to the latest block number. To do so, we need to use a different JSON-RPC request.

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type:application/json" \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}' \
  https://public-node.testnet.rsk.co

{
   "id" : 1,
   "result" : "0x180208",
   "jsonrpc" : "2.0"
}

From "result" : "0x180208" we know that the block number of the most recent block is 1573384.

node -e "console.log(0x180208 - 0x17fe5c);"
940

We subtract the transaction's block number from the latest block number, which yields the answer: 940 in this case - the number of confirmations.

Using web3

You can do the same using web3 (different hash in the example, mainnet):

web3.eth.getTransaction("0x9117f2fab63c89676b6538a317d0b9ec74cc4ac8f375c80c0f2b57223cbd6bb2")

{ hash: '0x9117f2fab63c89676b6538a317d0b9ec74cc4ac8f375c80c0f2b57223cbd6bb2',
  nonce: 118329,
  blockHash: '0x02c40394a7ed66bc50a0f1853220a395efd1e3cfebea5e0ff36dd5a0a12b2aeb',
  blockNumber: 3089723,
  transactionIndex: 1,
  from: '0x64DCC3BCbeaE8ce586CaBDef79104986bEAFcaD6',
  to: '0xBEd51D83CC4676660e3fc3819dfAD8238549B975',
  gas: 2000000,
  gasPrice: '60000000',
  value: '0',
  input: '0x5a686699000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000032d5284006bf8730000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060214e2a000000000000000000000000504efcadfb020d6bbaec8a5c5bb21453719d0e00',
  v: '0x1b',
  r: '0x2faaa315b1b3cd7421db1dc5fa243ddfae906282872c2bd9207e7e2dfed8286e',
  s: '0x571fa5a28a48755bdf93aacd28d8d7d8986b1e2db0f5450e2355e7f3c91db30b' }

In this case, you get 3089723 from blockNumber

Now, you query the current best block:

web3.eth.getBlockNumber(console.log)

3089747

And, therefore, you have 3089747 - 3089723 = 24 confirmations.

I am not sure if my response will be the best, but this is an option do find it.

I usually search in the explorer.rsk.co

• First you can check the block number which your transaction was mined
• After you can view the last block mined.
• The difference between the block numbers is the number of confirmations

I hope it is useful to you :)

You can also do it with web3.js. As function

const getTxConfirmations = (txHash) => Promise.all([
    web3.eth.getTransaction(txHash).then(tx => tx.blockNumber),
    web3.eth.getBlockNumber()
]).then(([blockNumber, currentBlockNumber]) => (currentBlockNumber - blockNumber))

And with Truffle console:

truffle(develop)> web3.eth.getTransaction('0x7a28a121c41085ef52d449f64120dbc422ec70b4d324c076c8d89222cf7188c8').then(tx => tx.blockNumber)
1
truffle(develop)> web3.eth.getBlockNumber()
5
truffle(develop)> const getTxConfirmations = (txHash) => Promise.all([web3.eth.getTransaction(txHash).then(tx => tx.blockNumber), web3.eth.getBlockNumber()]).then(([blockNumber, currentBlockNumber]) => (currentBlockNumber - blockNumber))
undefined
truffle(develop)> getTxConfirmations('0x7a28a121c41085ef52d449f64120dbc422ec70b4d324c076c8d89222cf7188c8')
4