javascript

Chapter 8: The Browser Object Model
The location Object
One of the most useful BOM objects is location , which provides information about the document that
is currently loaded in the window, as well as general navigation functionality. The location object is
unique in that it is a property of both window and document ; both window.location and
document.location point to the same object. Not only does location know about the currently
loaded document, but it also parses the URL into discrete segments that can be accessed via a series of
properties. These properties are enumerated in the following table (the location prefix is assumed).
Property Name Example Description
hash “#contents“ The URL hash (the pound sign followed by zero
or more characters), or an empty string if the URL
doesn ’ t have a hash.
host
www.wrox.com
“ www.wrox.com:80 “
The name of the server and port number if
present.
hostname “ www.wrox.com “ The name of the server without the port number.
href “ http://www.wrox.com “ The full URL of the currently loaded page. The
toString() method of location returns this
value.
pathname “ /WileyCDA/ “ The directory and/or filename of the URL.
port “ 8080 “ The port of the request if specified in the URL. If a
URL does not contain a port, then this property
returns an empty string.
protocol “ http: “ The protocol used by the page. Typically ” http: ”
or ” https: ”.
search ”?q=javascript“ The query string of the URL. It returns a string
beginning with a question mark.
Query String Arguments
Most of the information in location is easily accessible from these properties. The one part of the URL
that isn ’ t provided is an easy - to - use query string. Though location.search returns everything from
the question mark until the end of the URL, there is no immediate access to query - string arguments on a
one - by - one basis. The following function parses the query string and returns an object with entries for
each argument:
function getQueryStringArgs(){
//get query string without the initial ?
var qs = (location.search.length > 0 ? location.search.substring(1) : “”);
//object to hold data
var args = {};
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