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Nathan
Nathan

Posted on • Originally published at natclark.com

Reading URL Parameters in JavaScript

Consider the following URL:

https://example.com?shape=circle&color=red
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What if we wanted to extrapolate shape, color, and any other query parameters from that URL using JavaScript?

Well, one approach would be by using the very handy URLSearchParams object:

const url = window.location.href; // The URL of the current page

const params = new URLSearchParams(url);
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Once you've constructed an instance of URLSearchParams with a valid URL, you can start working with the URL's parameters:

const shape = params.get(`shape`);
const color = params.get(`color`);
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However, it's important to first check whether the URL parameter that you're trying to read even exists in the first place:

if (params.has(`shape`)) {
    const shape = params.get(`shape`);
}
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Conclusion

That's about it!

Working with URLs in JavaScript doesn't necessarily require writing tedious regular expressions or parsers. Instead, it can be a very simple and readable process.

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