What is querystring?
The querystring npm package is used for parsing and formatting URL query strings. It provides utilities for working with the query string of a URL, such as parsing a query string into an object, stringifying an object into a query string, and handling escape and unescape of URL query strings.
What are querystring's main functionalities?
Parsing a query string
This feature is used to parse a URL query string into an object where each key-value pair is represented as a property.
const querystring = require('querystring');
const parsed = querystring.parse('foo=bar&abc=xyz&abc=123');
Stringifying an object
This feature converts an object into a URL query string, with proper formatting and escaping.
const querystring = require('querystring');
const stringified = querystring.stringify({ foo: 'bar', baz: ['qux', 'quux'], corge: '' });
Escaping and unescaping
These functions are used to manually escape and unescape query string values.
const querystring = require('querystring');
const escaped = querystring.escape('foo@bar.com');
const unescaped = querystring.unescape('foo%40bar.com');
Other packages similar to querystring
qs
The 'qs' package is an advanced query string parser that supports nested objects and arrays, and offers more in-depth control over the parsing and stringifying of query strings compared to 'querystring'.
URLSearchParams
URLSearchParams is a built-in web API that provides similar functionality to 'querystring'. It is not an npm package but is available in modern browsers and Node.js environments. It offers methods to work with the query string of a URL, such as appending, deleting, and iterating over values.