How do I parse a URL into hostname and path in javascript?

Question

I would like to take a string

var a = \"http://example.com/aa/bb/\"

and process it into an object such that

a.hostname == \         


        

Answer 1

Here's a simple function using a regexp that imitates the a tag behavior.

Pros

• predictable behaviour (no cross browser issues)
• doesn't need the DOM
• it's really short.

Cons

• The regexp is a bit difficult to read

-

function getLocation(href) {
    var match = href.match(/^(https?\:)\/\/(([^:\/?#]*)(?:\:([0-9]+))?)([\/]{0,1}[^?#]*)(\?[^#]*|)(#.*|)$/);
    return match && {
        href: href,
        protocol: match[1],
        host: match[2],
        hostname: match[3],
        port: match[4],
        pathname: match[5],
        search: match[6],
        hash: match[7]
    }
}

-

getLocation("http://example.com/");
/*
{
    "protocol": "http:",
    "host": "example.com",
    "hostname": "example.com",
    "port": undefined,
    "pathname": "/"
    "search": "",
    "hash": "",
}
*/

getLocation("http://example.com:3000/pathname/?search=test#hash");
/*
{
    "protocol": "http:",
    "host": "example.com:3000",
    "hostname": "example.com",
    "port": "3000",
    "pathname": "/pathname/",
    "search": "?search=test",
    "hash": "#hash"
}
*/

EDIT:

Here's a breakdown of the regular expression

var reURLInformation = new RegExp([
    '^(https?:)//', // protocol
    '(([^:/?#]*)(?::([0-9]+))?)', // host (hostname and port)
    '(/{0,1}[^?#]*)', // pathname
    '(\\?[^#]*|)', // search
    '(#.*|)$' // hash
].join(''));
var match = href.match(reURLInformation);