normalize-url

What is normalize-url?

The normalize-url npm package is used to normalize and sanitize URLs to ensure they have a standard and consistent format. It can be used to remove tracking parameters, sort query parameters, remove default ports, and more.

What are normalize-url's main functionalities?

Normalizing URLs

This feature allows you to normalize a URL by converting it to a standard format. It can remove or add 'http://', sort query parameters, and convert the hostname to lowercase.

"use strict";
const normalizeUrl = require('normalize-url');

console.log(normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com')); // Output: 'http://sindresorhus.com'
console.log(normalizeUrl('HTTP://xn--xample-hva.com:80/?b=bar&a=foo')); // Output: 'http://êxample.com/?a=foo&b=bar'"

Removing URL Tracking Parameters

This feature allows you to remove URL tracking parameters like 'utm_source' and 'utm_medium' by using a regular expression.

"use strict";
const normalizeUrl = require('normalize-url');

console.log(normalizeUrl('www.sindresorhus.com?utm_source=foo&utm_medium=bar', {removeQueryParameters: [/^utm_/]})); // Output: 'http://sindresorhus.com'"

Removing Default Ports

This feature removes the default ports from URLs (port 80 for HTTP and port 443 for HTTPS).

"use strict";
const normalizeUrl = require('normalize-url');

console.log(normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com:80')); // Output: 'http://sindresorhus.com'
console.log(normalizeUrl('https://sindresorhus.com:443')); // Output: 'https://sindresorhus.com'"

Forcing HTTPS

This feature allows you to force the URL to use HTTPS instead of HTTP.

"use strict";
const normalizeUrl = require('normalize-url');

console.log(normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com', {forceHttps: true})); // Output: 'https://sindresorhus.com'"

Other packages similar to normalize-url

url-parse

The url-parse package offers similar URL parsing and normalization functionalities. It provides a more detailed breakdown of URL components and allows manipulation of these components individually.

urijs

URI.js is a library for working with URLs. It includes URL manipulation and normalization features, but also offers more extensive options for working with URIs, such as resolving URIs, managing URI components, and building URIs from templates.

README

normalize-url

Normalize a URL

Useful when you need to display, store, deduplicate, sort, compare, etc, URLs.

Install

$ npm install normalize-url

Usage

const normalizeUrl = require('normalize-url');

normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'

normalizeUrl('HTTP://xn--xample-hva.com:80/?b=bar&a=foo');
//=> 'http://êxample.com/?a=foo&b=bar'

API

normalizeUrl(url, [options])

url

Type: string

URL to normalize.

options

Type: Object

normalizeProtocol

Type: boolean
Default: true

Prepend http: to the URL if it's protocol-relative.

normalizeUrl('//sindresorhus.com:80/');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'

normalizeUrl('//sindresorhus.com:80/', {normalizeProtocol: false});
//=> '//sindresorhus.com'

normalizeHttps

Type: boolean
Default: false

Normalize https: URLs to http:.

normalizeUrl('https://sindresorhus.com:80/');
//=> 'https://sindresorhus.com'

normalizeUrl('https://sindresorhus.com:80/', {normalizeHttps: true});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'

stripFragment

Type: boolean
Default: true

Remove the fragment at the end of the URL.

normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/about.html'

normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact', {stripFragment: false});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact'

stripWWW

Type: boolean
Default: true

Remove www. from the URL.

normalizeUrl('http://www.sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact'

normalizeUrl('http://www.sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact', {stripWWW: false});
//=> 'http://www.sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact'

removeQueryParameters

Type: Array<RegExp|string>
Default: [/^utm_\w+/i]

Remove query parameters that matches any of the provided strings or regexes.

normalizeUrl('www.sindresorhus.com?foo=bar&ref=test_ref', {
	removeQueryParameters: ['ref']
});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/?foo=bar'

removeTrailingSlash

Type: boolean
Default: true

Remove trailing slash.

Note: Trailing slash is always removed if the URL doesn't have a pathname.

normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com/redirect/');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/redirect'

normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com/redirect/', {removeTrailingSlash: false});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/redirect/'

normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com/', {removeTrailingSlash: false});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'

removeDirectoryIndex

Type: boolean Array<RegExp|string>
Default: false

Remove the default directory index file from path that matches any of the provided strings or regexes. When true, the regex /^index\.[a-z]+$/ is used.

normalizeUrl('www.sindresorhus.com/foo/default.php', {
	removeDirectoryIndex: [/^default\.[a-z]+$/]
});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/foo'

sortQueryParameters

Type: boolean
Default: true

Sort the query parameters alphabetically by key.

normalizeUrl('www.sindresorhus.com?b=two&a=one&c=three', {
	sortQueryParameters: false
});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/?b=two&a=one&c=three'

Related

• compare-urls - Compare URLs by first normalizing them

License

MIT © Sindre Sorhus