Change URL parameters and specify defaults using JavaScript

I think you want the query plugin.

E.g.:

window.location.search = jQuery.query.set("rows", 10);

This will work regardless of the current state of rows.

To answer my own question 4 years later, after having learned a lot. Especially that you shouldn't use jQuery for everything. I've created a simple module that can parse/stringify a query string. This makes it easy to modify the query string.

You can use query-string as follows:

// parse the query string into an object
var q = queryString.parse(location.search);
// set the `row` property
q.rows = 10;
// convert the object to a query string
// and overwrite the existing query string
location.search = queryString.stringify(q);

Ben Alman has a good jquery querystring/url plugin here that allows you to manipulate the querystring easily.

As requested -

Goto his test page here

In firebug enter the following into the console

jQuery.param.querystring(window.location.href, 'a=3&newValue=100');

It will return you the following amended url string

http://benalman.com/code/test/js-jquery-url-querystring.html?a=3&b=Y&c=Z&newValue=100#n=1&o=2&p=3

Notice the a querystring value for a has changed from X to 3 and it has added the new value.

You can then use the new url string however you wish e.g using document.location = newUrl or change an anchor link etc

This is the modern way to change URL parameters:

function setGetParam(key,value) {
  if (history.pushState) {
    var params = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
    params.set(key, value);
    var newUrl = window.location.origin 
          + window.location.pathname 
          + '?' + params.toString();
    window.history.pushState({path:newUrl},'',newUrl);
  }
}

you can do it via normal JS also

var url = document.URL
var newAdditionalURL = "";
var tempArray = url.split("?");
var baseURL = tempArray[0];
var aditionalURL = tempArray[1]; 
var temp = "";
if(aditionalURL)
{
var tempArray = aditionalURL.split("&");
for ( var i in tempArray ){
    if(tempArray[i].indexOf("rows") == -1){
            newAdditionalURL += temp+tempArray[i];
                temp = "&";
            }
        }
}
var rows_txt = temp+"rows=10";
var finalURL = baseURL+"?"+newAdditionalURL+rows_txt;

Use URLSearchParams to check, get and set the parameters value into URL

Here is the example to get the current URL and set new parameter and update the URL or reload the page as per your needs

var rows = 5; // value that you want to set
var url = new URL(window.location);
(url.searchParams.has('rows') ? url.searchParams.set('rows', rows) : url.searchParams.append('rows', rows));

url.search = url.searchParams;
url        = url.toString();

// if you want to append into URL without reloading the page
history.pushState({}, null, url);

// want to reload the window with a new param
window.location = url;

2020 Solution: sets the variable or removes iti if you pass null or undefined to the value.

var setSearchParam = function(key, value) {
    if (!window.history.pushState) {
        return;
    }

    if (!key) {
        return;
    }

    var url = new URL(window.location.href);
    var params = new window.URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
    if (value === undefined || value === null) {
        params.delete(key);
    } else {
        params.set(key, value);
    }

    url.search = params;
    url = url.toString();
    window.history.replaceState({url: url}, null, url);
}

Would a viable alternative to String manipulation be to set up an html form and just modify the value of the rows element?

So, with html that is something like

<form id='myForm' target='site.fwx'>
    <input type='hidden' name='position' value='1'/>
    <input type='hidden' name='archiveid' value='5000'/>
    <input type='hidden' name='columns' value='5'/>
    <input type='hidden' name='rows' value='20'/>
    <input type='hidden' name='sorting' value='ModifiedTimeAsc'/>
</form>

With the following JavaScript to submit the form

var myForm = document.getElementById('myForm');
myForm.rows.value = yourNewValue;
myForm.submit();

Probably not suitable for all situations, but might be nicer than parsing the URL string.

URL query parameters can be easily modified using URLSearchParams and History interfaces:

// Construct URLSearchParams object instance from current URL querystring.
var queryParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
 
// Set new or modify existing parameter value. 
//queryParams.set("myParam", "myValue");
queryParams.set("rows", "10");
 
// Replace current querystring with the new one.
history.replaceState(null, null, "?"+queryParams.toString());

Alternatively instead of modifying current history entry using replaceState() we can use pushState() method to create a new one:

history.pushState(null, null, "?"+queryParams.toString());

https://zgadzaj.com/development/javascript/how-to-change-url-query-parameter-with-javascript-only

Consider this one:

const myUrl = new URL("http://www.example.com?columns=5&rows=20");
myUrl.searchParams.set('rows', 10);
console.log(myUrl.href); // http://www.example.com?columns=5&rows=10
myUrl.searchParams.set('foo', 'bar'); // add new param
console.log(myUrl.href); // http://www.example.com?columns=5&rows=10&foo=bar

It will do exactly the same thing you required. Please note URL must have correct format. In your example you have to specify protocol (either http or https)

Using javascript URL:

var url = new URL(window.location);
(url.searchParams.has('rows') ? url.searchParams.set('rows', rows) : url.searchParams.append('rows', rows));
window.location = url;

var url = new URL(window.location.href);
var search_params = url.searchParams;
search_params.set("param", value);
url.search = search_params.toString();
var new_url = url.pathname + url.search;
window.history.replaceState({}, '', new_url);

In the URLSearchParams documentation, there's a very clean way of doing this, without affecting the history stack.

// URL: https://example.com?version=1.0
const params = new URLSearchParams(location.search);
params.set('version', 2.0);

window.history.replaceState({}, '', `${location.pathname}?${params}`);
// URL: https://example.com?version=2.0

Similarily, to remove a parameter

params.delete('version')
window.history.replaceState({}, '', `${location.pathname}?${params}`);
// URL: https://example.com?

My solution:

const setParams = (data) => {
    if (typeof data !== 'undefined' && typeof data !== 'object') {
        return
    }

    let url = new URL(window.location.href)
    const params = new URLSearchParams(url.search)

    for (const key of Object.keys(data)) {
        if (data[key] == 0) {
            params.delete(key)
        } else {
            params.set(key, data[key])
        }
    }

    url.search = params
    url = url.toString()
    window.history.replaceState({ url: url }, null, url)
}

Then just call "setParams" and pass an object with data you want to set.

Example:

$('select').on('change', e => {
    const $this = $(e.currentTarget)
    setParams({ $this.attr('name'): $this.val() })
})

In my case I had to update a html select input when it changes and if the value is "0", remove the parameter. You can edit the function and remove the parameter from the url if the object key is "null" as well.

Hope this helps yall

If you want to change the url in address bar:

const search = new URLSearchParams(location.search);
search.set('rows', 10);
location.search = search.toString();

Note, changing location.search reloads the page.

Here is a simple solution using the query-string library.

const qs = require('query-string')
function addQuery(key, value) {
  const q = qs.parse(location.search)
  const url = qs.stringifyUrl(
    {
      url: location.pathname,
      query: {
      ...q,
      [key]: value,
      },
    },
    { skipEmptyString: true }
  );
  window.location.href = url
  // if you are using Turbolinks
  // add this: Turbolinks.visit(url)
}
// Usage
addQuery('page', 2)

If you are using react without react-router

export function useAddQuery() {
  const location = window.location;
  const addQuery = useCallback(
    (key, value) => {
      const q = qs.parse(location.search);
      const url = qs.stringifyUrl(
        {
          url: location.pathname,
          query: {
            ...q,
            [key]: value,
          },
        },
        { skipEmptyString: true }
      );
      window.location.href = url
    },
    [location]
  );

  return { addQuery };
}
// Usage
const { addQuery } = useAddQuery()
addQuery('page', 2)

If you are using react with react-router

export function useAddQuery() {
  const location = useLocation();
  const history = useHistory();

  const addQuery = useCallback(
    (key, value) => {
      let pathname = location.pathname;
      let searchParams = new URLSearchParams(location.search);
      searchParams.set(key, value);
      history.push({
        pathname: pathname,
        search: searchParams.toString()
      });
    },
    [location, history]
  );

  return { addQuery };
}

// Usage
const { addQuery } = useAddQuery()
addQuery('page', 2)

PS: qs is the import from query-string module.

No library, using URL() WebAPI (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/URL)

function setURLParameter(url, parameter, value) {
    let url = new URL(url);
    if (url.searchParams.get(parameter) === value) {
        return url;
    }
    url.searchParams.set(parameter, value);
    return url.href;
}

This doesn't work on IE: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/URL#Browser_compatibility

my function support removing param

function updateURLParameter(url, param, paramVal, remove = false) {
        var newAdditionalURL = '';
        var tempArray = url.split('?');
        var baseURL = tempArray[0];
        var additionalURL = tempArray[1];
        var rows_txt = '';

        if (additionalURL)
            newAdditionalURL = decodeURI(additionalURL) + '&';

        if (remove)
            newAdditionalURL = newAdditionalURL.replace(param + '=' + paramVal, '');
        else
            rows_txt = param + '=' + paramVal;

        window.history.replaceState('', '', (baseURL + "?" + newAdditionalURL + rows_txt).replace('?&', '?').replace('&&', '&').replace(/\&$/, ''));
    }

I just wrote a simple module to deal with reading and updating the current url query params.

Example usage:

import UrlParams from './UrlParams'

UrlParams.remove('foo') //removes all occurences of foo=?
UrlParams.set('foo', 'bar') //set all occurences of foo equal to bar
UrlParams.add('foo', 'bar2') //add bar2 to foo result: foo=bar&foo=bar2
UrlParams.get('foo') //returns bar
UrlParams.get('foo', true) //returns [bar, bar2]

Here is my code named UrlParams.(js/ts):

class UrlParams {

    /**
     * Get params from current url
     * 
     * @returns URLSearchParams
     */
    static getParams(){
        let url = new URL(window.location.href)
        return new URLSearchParams(url.search.slice(1))
    }

    /**
     * Update current url with params
     * 
     * @param params URLSearchParams
     */
    static update(params){
        if(`${params}`){
            window.history.replaceState({}, '', `${location.pathname}?${params}`)
        } else {
            window.history.replaceState({}, '', `${location.pathname}`)
        }
    }

    /**
     * Remove key from url query
     * 
     * @param param string
     */
    static remove(param){
        let params = this.getParams()
        if(params.has(param)){
            params.delete(param)
            this.update(params)
        }
    }

    /**
     * Add key value pair to current url
     * 
     * @param key string
     * @param value string
     */
    static add(key, value){
        let params = this.getParams()
        params.append(key, value)
        this.update(params)
    }

    /**
     * Get value or values of key
     * 
     * @param param string
     * @param all string | string[]
     */
    static get(param, all=false){
        let params = this.getParams()
        if(all){
            return params.getAll(param)
        }
        return params.get(param)
    }

    /**
     * Set value of query param
     * 
     * @param key string
     * @param value string
     */
    static set(key, value){
        let params = this.getParams()
        params.set(key, value)
        this.update(params)
    }

}
export default UrlParams
export { UrlParams }

     // usage: clear ; cd src/js/node/js-unit-tests/01-set-url-param ; npm test ; cd -
     // prereqs: , nodejs , mocha
     // URI = scheme:[//authority]path[?paramName1=paramValue1&paramName2=paramValue2][#fragment]
     // call by: uri = uri.setUriParam("as","md")
     String.prototype.setUriParam = function (paramName, paramValue) {
        var uri = this
        var fragment = ( uri.indexOf('#') === -1 ) ? '' : uri.split('#')[1]
        uri = ( uri.indexOf('#') === -1 ) ? uri : uri.split('#')[0]
        if ( uri.indexOf("?") === -1 ) { uri = uri + '?&' }
        uri = uri.replace ( '?' + paramName , '?&' + paramName)
        var toRepl = (paramValue != null) ? ('$1' + paramValue) : ''
        var toSrch = new RegExp('([&]' + paramName + '=)(([^&#]*)?)')
        uri = uri.replace(toSrch,toRepl)
        if (uri.indexOf(paramName + '=') === -1 && toRepl != '' ) {
           var ampersandMayBe = uri.endsWith('&') ? '' : '&'
           uri = uri + ampersandMayBe + paramName + "=" + String(paramValue)
        }
        uri = ( fragment.length == 0 ) ? uri : (uri+"#"+fragment) //may-be re-add the fragment
        return uri
     }

     var assert = require('assert');
     describe('replacing url param value', function () {

        // scheme://authority/path[?p1=v1&p2=v2#fragment
        // a clean url
        it('http://org.com/path -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=10'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",10)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // has the url param existing after the ? with num value
        it('http://org.com/path?prm=src_v -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?bid=57'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=10'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",10)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // has the url param existing after the ? but string value
        it('http://org.com/path?prm=src_v -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?bid=boo-bar'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=boo-bar-baz'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid","boo-bar-baz")
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // has the url param existing after the ?& but string value
        it('http://org.com/path?&prm=src_v -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=5'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=10'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",10)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // has the url param existing after the ? with other param
        it('http://org.com/path?prm=src_v&other_p=other_v -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v&other_p=other_v', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?bid=5&other_p=other_v'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=10&other_p=other_v'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",10)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // has the url param existing after the ?& with other param
        it('http://org.com/path?&prm=src_v&other_p=other_v -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v&other_p=other_v', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=5&other_p&other_v'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=10&other_p&other_v'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",10)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // has the url param existing after the ? with other param with fragment
        it('http://org.com/path?prm=src_v&other_p=other_v#f -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v&other_p=other_v#f', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?bid=5&other_p=other_v#f'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=10&other_p=other_v#f'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",10)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // has the url param existing after the ?& with other param with fragment
        it('http://org.com/path?&prm=src_v&other_p=other_v#f -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v&other_p=other_v#f', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=5&other_p&other_v#f'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=10&other_p&other_v#f'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",10)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // remove the param-name , param-value pair
        it('http://org.com/path?prm=src_v&other_p=other_v#f -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v&other_p=other_v#f', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?bid=5&other_p=other_v#f'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&other_p=other_v#f'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",null)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // remove the param-name , param-value pair
        it('http://org.com/path?&prm=src_v&other_p=other_v#f -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v&other_p=other_v#f', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&bid=5&other_p=other_v#f'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&other_p=other_v#f'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid",null)
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

        // add a new param name , param value pair
        it('http://org.com/path?prm=src_v&other_p=other_v#f -> http://org.com/path?&prm=tgt_v&other_p=other_v#f', function (){
           var uri = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&other_p=other_v#f'
           var uriExpected = 'http://site.eu:80/qto/view/devops_guide_doc?&other_p=other_v&bid=foo-bar#f'
           var uriActual = uri.setUriParam("bid","foo-bar")
           assert.equal(uriActual, uriExpected);
        });

     });