How to convert URL parameters to a JavaScript object?

Question

I have a string like this:

abc=foo&def=%5Basf%5D&xyz=5

How can I convert it into a JavaScript object like this?

{
          


        

Answer 1

Edit

This edit improves and explains the answer based on the comments.

var search = location.search.substring(1);
JSON.parse('{"' + decodeURI(search).replace(/"/g, '\\"').replace(/&/g, '","').replace(/=/g,'":"') + '"}')

Example

Parse abc=foo&def=%5Basf%5D&xyz=5 in five steps:

• decodeURI: abc=foo&def=[asf]&xyz=5
• Escape quotes: same, as there are no quotes
• Replace &: abc=foo","def=[asf]","xyz=5
• Replace =: abc":"foo","def":"[asf]","xyz":"5
• Suround with curlies and quotes: {"abc":"foo","def":"[asf]","xyz":"5"}

which is legal JSON.

An improved solution allows for more characters in the search string. It uses a reviver function for URI decoding:

var search = location.search.substring(1);
JSON.parse('{"' + search.replace(/&/g, '","').replace(/=/g,'":"') + '"}', function(key, value) { return key===""?value:decodeURIComponent(value) })

Example

search = "abc=foo&def=%5Basf%5D&xyz=5&foo=b%3Dar";

gives

Object {abc: "foo", def: "[asf]", xyz: "5", foo: "b=ar"}

Original answer

A one-liner:

JSON.parse('{"' + decodeURI("abc=foo&def=%5Basf%5D&xyz=5".replace(/&/g, "\",\"").replace(/=/g,"\":\"")) + '"}')

Answer 2

This seems to be the best solution as it takes multiple parameters of the same name into consideration.

    function paramsToJSON(str) {
        var pairs = str.split('&');
        var result = {};
        pairs.forEach(function(pair) {
            pair = pair.split('=');
            var name = pair[0]
            var value = pair[1]
            if( name.length )
                if (result[name] !== undefined) {
                    if (!result[name].push) {
                        result[name] = [result[name]];
                    }
                    result[name].push(value || '');
                } else {
                    result[name] = value || '';
                }
        });
        return( result );
    }

<a href="index.html?x=1&x=2&x=3&y=blah">something</a>
paramsToJSON("x=1&x=2&x=3&y=blah"); 

console yields => {x: Array[3], y: "blah"} where x is an array as is proper JSON

I later decided to convert it to a jQuery plugin too...

$.fn.serializeURLParams = function() {
    var result = {};

    if( !this.is("a") || this.attr("href").indexOf("?") == -1 ) 
        return( result );

    var pairs = this.attr("href").split("?")[1].split('&');
    pairs.forEach(function(pair) {
        pair = pair.split('=');
        var name = decodeURI(pair[0])
        var value = decodeURI(pair[1])
        if( name.length )
            if (result[name] !== undefined) {
                if (!result[name].push) {
                    result[name] = [result[name]];
                }
                result[name].push(value || '');
            } else {
                result[name] = value || '';
            }
    });
    return( result )
}

<a href="index.html?x=1&x=2&x=3&y=blah">something</a>
$("a").serializeURLParams(); 

console yields => {x: Array[3], y: "blah"} where x is an array as is proper JSON

Now, the first will accept the parameters only but the jQuery plugin will take the whole url and return the serialized parameters.

Answer 3

FIRST U NEED TO DEFINE WHAT'S A GET VAR:

function getVar()
{
    this.length = 0;
    this.keys = [];
    this.push = function(key, value)
    {
        if(key=="") key = this.length++;
        this[key] = value;
        this.keys.push(key);
        return this[key];
    }
}

Than just read:

function urlElement()
{
    var thisPrototype = window.location;
    for(var prototypeI in thisPrototype) this[prototypeI] = thisPrototype[prototypeI];
    this.Variables = new getVar();
    if(!this.search) return this;
    var variables = this.search.replace(/\?/g,'').split('&');
    for(var varI=0; varI<variables.length; varI++)
    {
        var nameval = variables[varI].split('=');
        var name = nameval[0].replace(/\]/g,'').split('[');
        var pVariable = this.Variables;
        for(var nameI=0;nameI<name.length;nameI++)
        {
            if(name.length-1==nameI) pVariable.push(name[nameI],nameval[1]);
            else var pVariable = (typeof pVariable[name[nameI]] != 'object')? pVariable.push(name[nameI],new getVar()) : pVariable[name[nameI]];
        }
    }
}

and use like:

var mlocation = new urlElement();
mlocation = mlocation.Variables;
for(var key=0;key<mlocation.keys.length;key++)
{
    console.log(key);
    console.log(mlocation[mlocation.keys[key]];
}

Answer 4

Pretty easy using the URLSearchParams JavaScript Web API,

var paramsString = "q=forum&topic=api";

//returns an iterator object
var searchParams = new URLSearchParams(paramsString);

//Usage
for (let p of searchParams) {
  console.log(p);
}

//Get the query strings
console.log(searchParams.toString());

//You can also pass in objects

var paramsObject = {q:"forum",topic:"api"}

//returns an iterator object
var searchParams = new URLSearchParams(paramsObject);

//Usage
for (let p of searchParams) {
  console.log(p);
}

//Get the query strings
console.log(searchParams.toString());

Useful Links

• URLSearchParams - Web APIs | MDN
• Easy URL Manipulation with URLSearchParams | Web | Google Developers

NOTE: Not Supported in IE

Answer 5

Building on top of Mike Causer's answer I've made this function which takes into consideration multiple params with the same key (foo=bar&foo=baz) and also comma-separated parameters (foo=bar,baz,bin). It also lets you search for a certain query key.

function getQueryParams(queryKey) {
    var queryString = window.location.search;
    var query = {};
    var pairs = (queryString[0] === '?' ? queryString.substr(1) : queryString).split('&');
    for (var i = 0; i < pairs.length; i++) {
        var pair = pairs[i].split('=');
        var key = decodeURIComponent(pair[0]);
        var value = decodeURIComponent(pair[1] || '');
        // Se possui uma vírgula no valor, converter em um array
        value = (value.indexOf(',') === -1 ? value : value.split(','));

        // Se a key já existe, tratar ela como um array
        if (query[key]) {
            if (query[key].constructor === Array) {
                // Array.concat() faz merge se o valor inserido for um array
                query[key] = query[key].concat(value);
            } else {
                // Se não for um array, criar um array contendo o valor anterior e o novo valor
                query[key] = [query[key], value];
            }
        } else {
            query[key] = value;
        }
    }

    if (typeof queryKey === 'undefined') {
        return query;
    } else {
        return query[queryKey];
    }
}

Example input: foo.html?foo=bar&foo=baz&foo=bez,boz,buz&bar=1,2,3

Example output

{
    foo: ["bar","baz","bez","boz","buz"],
    bar: ["1","2","3"]
}

Answer 6

I had the same problem, tried the solutions here, but none of them really worked, since I had arrays in the URL parameters, like this:

?param[]=5&param[]=8&othr_param=abc&param[]=string

So I ended up writing my own JS function, which makes an array out of the param in URI:

/**
 * Creates an object from URL encoded data
 */
var createObjFromURI = function() {
    var uri = decodeURI(location.search.substr(1));
    var chunks = uri.split('&');
    var params = Object();

    for (var i=0; i < chunks.length ; i++) {
        var chunk = chunks[i].split('=');
        if(chunk[0].search("\\[\\]") !== -1) {
            if( typeof params[chunk[0]] === 'undefined' ) {
                params[chunk[0]] = [chunk[1]];

            } else {
                params[chunk[0]].push(chunk[1]);
            }


        } else {
            params[chunk[0]] = chunk[1];
        }
    }

    return params;
}