Query-string encoding of a Javascript Object

Question

Do you know a fast and simple way to encode a Javascript Object into a string that I can pass via a GET Request?

No jQuery, no other frameworks - just plain Javascript :)

Answer 1

With Node.js v6.6.3

const querystring = require('querystring')

const obj = {
  foo: 'bar',
  baz: 'tor'
}

let result = querystring.stringify(obj)
// foo=bar&baz=tor

Reference: https://nodejs.org/api/querystring.html

Answer 2

I have a simpler solution that does not use any third-party library and is already apt to be used in any browser that has "Object.keys" (aka all modern browsers + edge + ie):

In ES5

function(a){
    if( typeof(a) !== 'object' ) 
        return '';
    return `?${Object.keys(a).map(k=>`${k}=${a[k]}`).join('&')}`;
}

In ES3

function(a){
    if( typeof(a) !== 'object' ) 
        return '';
    return '?' + Object.keys(a).map(function(k){ return k + '=' + a[k] }).join('&');
}

Answer 3

ok, it's a older post but i'm facing this problem and i have found my personal solution.. maybe can help someone else..

     function objToQueryString(obj){
        var k = Object.keys(obj);
        var s = "";
        for(var i=0;i<k.length;i++) {
            s += k[i] + "=" + encodeURIComponent(obj[k[i]]);
            if (i != k.length -1) s += "&";
        }
        return s;
     };

Answer 4

Here's the coffeescript version of accepted answer. This might save time to someone.

serialize = (obj, prefix) ->
  str = []
  for p, v of obj
    k = if prefix then prefix + "[" + p + "]" else p
    if typeof v == "object"
      str.push(serialize(v, k))
    else
      str.push(encodeURIComponent(k) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(v))

  str.join("&")

Answer 5

Here's a one liner in ES6:

Object.keys(obj).map(k => `${encodeURIComponent(k)}=${encodeURIComponent(obj[k])}`).join('&');

Answer 6

Do you need to send arbitrary objects? If so, GET is a bad idea since there are limits to the lengths of URLs that user agents and web servers will accepts. My suggestion would be to build up an array of name-value pairs to send and then build up a query string:

function QueryStringBuilder() {
    var nameValues = [];

    this.add = function(name, value) {
        nameValues.push( {name: name, value: value} );
    };

    this.toQueryString = function() {
        var segments = [], nameValue;
        for (var i = 0, len = nameValues.length; i < len; i++) {
            nameValue = nameValues[i];
            segments[i] = encodeURIComponent(nameValue.name) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(nameValue.value);
        }
        return segments.join("&");
    };
}

var qsb = new QueryStringBuilder();
qsb.add("veg", "cabbage");
qsb.add("vegCount", "5");

alert( qsb.toQueryString() );