How to get GET (query string) variables in Express.js on Node.js?

Question

Can we get the variables in the query string in Node.js just like we get them in $_GET in PHP?

I know that in Node.js we can get the URL in the request.

Answer 1

It is so simple:

Example URL:

http://stackoverflow.com:3000/activate_accountid=3&activatekey=$2a$08$jvGevXUOvYxKsiBt.PpMs.zgzD4C/wwTsvjzfUrqLrgS3zXJVfVRK

You can print all the values of query string by using:

console.log("All query strings: " + JSON.stringify(req.query));

Output

All query strings : { "id":"3","activatekey":"$2a$08$jvGevXUOvYxKsiBt.PpMs.zgzD4C/wwTsvjz fUrqLrgS3zXJVfVRK"}

To print specific:

console.log("activatekey: " + req.query.activatekey);

Output

activatekey: $2a$08$jvGevXUOvYxKsiBt.PpMs.zgzD4C/wwTsvjzfUrqLrgS3zXJVfVRK

Answer 2

If you ever need to send GET request to an IP as well as a Domain (Other answers did not mention you can specify a port variable), you can make use of this function:

function getCode(host, port, path, queryString) {
    console.log("(" + host + ":" + port + path + ")" + "Running httpHelper.getCode()")

    // Construct url and query string
    const requestUrl = url.parse(url.format({
        protocol: 'http',
        hostname: host,
        pathname: path,
        port: port,
        query: queryString
    }));

    console.log("(" + host + path + ")" + "Sending GET request")
    // Send request
    console.log(url.format(requestUrl))
    http.get(url.format(requestUrl), (resp) => {
        let data = '';

        // A chunk of data has been received.
        resp.on('data', (chunk) => {
            console.log("GET chunk: " + chunk);
            data += chunk;
        });

        // The whole response has been received. Print out the result.
        resp.on('end', () => {
            console.log("GET end of response: " + data);
        });

    }).on("error", (err) => {
        console.log("GET Error: " + err);
    });
}

Don't miss requiring modules at the top of your file:

http = require("http");
url = require('url')

Also bare in mind that you may use https module for communicating over secured domains and ssl. so these two lines would change:

https = require("https");
...
https.get(url.format(requestUrl), (resp) => { ......