What is qs?
The qs package is a query string parsing and stringifying library with some added security. It is often used to parse and stringify query strings, handling complex data structures within query strings.
What are qs's main functionalities?
Parsing query strings
This feature allows you to convert a query string into an object, making it easy to access the values.
const qs = require('qs');
const query = qs.parse('a=c&b=d');
console.log(query); // { a: 'c', b: 'd' }
Stringifying objects
This feature enables you to take an object and convert it into a query string, which can be used in URLs.
const qs = require('qs');
const stringified = qs.stringify({ a: 'c', b: 'd' });
console.log(stringified); // 'a=c&b=d'
Handling arrays and objects
qs can parse and stringify nested objects and arrays, allowing for complex data structures in query strings.
const qs = require('qs');
const query = qs.parse('a[]=b&a[]=c');
console.log(query); // { a: ['b', 'c'] }
Custom parsing options
You can customize the parsing behavior by providing options such as delimiters, allowing for flexibility in the format of query strings.
const qs = require('qs');
const query = qs.parse('a=c&b=d', { delimiter: ';' });
console.log(query); // { 'a=c&b=d': '' }
Other packages similar to qs
query-string
query-string is a robust library for parsing and stringifying URL query strings. It is designed to be simpler than qs and does not support nested objects, but it is tree-shakable and can be used in both Node.js and the browser.
url-search-params
url-search-params is a polyfill for the URLSearchParams API, which is a native web API for handling query strings. It is not as feature-rich as qs, but it provides a standard way for parsing and stringifying query strings in the browser.
node-querystring
query string parser for node and the browser supporting nesting, as it was removed from 0.3.x
, so this library provides the previous and commonly desired behaviour (and twice as fast). Used by express, connect and others.
Installation
$ npm install qs
Examples
var qs = require('qs');
qs.parse('user[name][first]=Tobi&user[email]=tobi@learnboost.com');
qs.stringify({ user: { name: 'Tobi', email: 'tobi@learnboost.com' }})
Testing
Install dev dependencies:
$ npm install -d
and execute:
$ make test
browser:
$ open test/browser/index.html
License
(The MIT License)
Copyright (c) 2010 TJ Holowaychuk <tj@vision-media.ca>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.