snippetjavascriptTip

How do I use JavaScript to get the base URL or the URL parameters?

Submitted by: @import:30-seconds-of-code·Mar 2, 2026·

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javascripturlhowbasegetusetheparameters

Problem

When developing for the web, it's inevitable that you'll have to manipulate URLs one way or the other. Some of the most common tasks include retrieving the base URL and extracting the URL parameters. Luckily, it only takes a few lines of JavaScript code.
The base URL is the part of the URL that comes before any parameters or fragment identifiers. To get the base URL, you can use a regular expression to remove everything after either '?' or '#', with the help of String.prototype.replace().
Similarly, you can extract the URL parameters as an object by using a regular expression and String.prototype.match() to match all key-value pairs. Then, you can use Array.prototype.reduce() to map and combine them into a single object.
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Solution

const getBaseURL = url => url.replace(/[?#].*$/, '');

getBaseURL('http://url.com/page?name=Adam&surname=Smith');
// 'http://url.com/page'

Similarly, you can extract the URL parameters as an object by using a regular expression and String.prototype.match() to match all key-value pairs. Then, you can use Array.prototype.reduce() to map and combine them into a single object.
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> If you want to learn how to edit URL parameters in JavaScript, check out the article on editing URL parameters.

Code Snippets

const getBaseURL = url => url.replace(/[?#].*$/, '');

getBaseURL('http://url.com/page?name=Adam&surname=Smith');
// 'http://url.com/page'

const getURLParameters = url =>
  (url.match(/([^?=&]+)(=([^&]*))/g) || []).reduce(
    (a, v) => (
      (a[v.slice(0, v.indexOf('='))] = v.slice(v.indexOf('=') + 1)), a
    ),
    {}
  );

getURLParameters(location.search);
// Gets the URL parameters of the current page
getURLParameters('http://url.com/page?name=Adam&surname=Smith');
// { name: 'Adam', surname: 'Smith' }
getURLParameters('google.com');
// {}

Context

From 30-seconds-of-code: get-base-url-or-url-params

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