url-value-parser

What is url-value-parser?

The url-value-parser npm package is designed to parse URLs and extract meaningful values from them. It is particularly useful for extracting parameters, paths, and other components from URLs in a structured manner.

What are url-value-parser's main functionalities?

Parse URL and extract values

This feature allows you to parse a URL and extract dynamic values from it. In the example, the URL '/user/12345/profile' is parsed to extract the user ID '12345' and replace it with a placeholder ':id'.

const UrlValueParser = require('url-value-parser');
const parser = new UrlValueParser();
const result = parser.parse('/user/12345/profile');
console.log(result); // { path: '/user/:id/profile', params: { id: '12345' } }

Custom parameter patterns

This feature allows you to define custom patterns for parameters. In the example, a custom pattern for MongoDB ObjectIDs is used to parse the URL and extract the product ID.

const UrlValueParser = require('url-value-parser');
const parser = new UrlValueParser({ parameterPattern: /[a-f0-9]{24}/i });
const result = parser.parse('/product/5f8d0d55b54764421b7156c3');
console.log(result); // { path: '/product/:id', params: { id: '5f8d0d55b54764421b7156c3' } }

Parse query strings

This feature allows you to parse URLs with query strings and extract the query parameters. In the example, the URL '/search?q=nodejs&sort=asc' is parsed to extract the query parameters 'q' and 'sort'.

const UrlValueParser = require('url-value-parser');
const parser = new UrlValueParser();
const result = parser.parse('/search?q=nodejs&sort=asc');
console.log(result); // { path: '/search', query: { q: 'nodejs', sort: 'asc' } }

Other packages similar to url-value-parser

query-string

The query-string package is used to parse and stringify URL query strings. It focuses on handling query parameters rather than the entire URL structure. Compared to url-value-parser, it is more specialized in dealing with query strings and offers utilities for manipulating them.

url-parse

The url-parse package provides a way to parse URLs into their components (protocol, hostname, port, pathname, query, etc.). It offers a more comprehensive breakdown of the URL structure compared to url-value-parser, which focuses on extracting dynamic values and parameters.

path-to-regexp

The path-to-regexp package is used to convert paths to regular expressions and extract parameters from them. It is similar to url-value-parser in that it can extract dynamic values from paths, but it is more focused on path matching and less on parsing the entire URL.

README

UrlValueParser

A helper ES6 class letting you extract values from URL paths, leaving the other parts untouched.

It uses an internal class ValueDetector determining what is a value and what is not. By default the following path chunks are considered values:

• decimal numbers
• strings in UUID format
• hex numbers consisting of 7 or more characters and consistent lower or upper case
• long base64 encoded strings
• JSON Web Tokens (JWT)

You can customize all of the logic by providing options, overriding methods or providing your own value detector. See the source - it's easy, i promise.

Usage

const UrlValueParser = require('url-value-parser');
const parser = new UrlValueParser(/* {options} */);

parser.parsePathValues('/some/path/154/userId/ABC363AFE2');
/*
 here the values would be 154 and ABC363AFE2
 thus it returns:

  {
    chunks: ['some', 'path', '154', 'userId', 'ABC363AFE2'],
    valueIndexes: [2, 5]
  }
*/

parser.replacePathValues('/some/path/154/userId/ABC363AFE2', '#id');
// returns: /some/path/#id/userId/#id

Options

• replaceMasks - use custom masks instead of built-in
• extraMasks - add your custom masks additionally to the built-in ones
• minHexLength - when using built-in masks, count only long enough HEX values, DEFAULT: 7
• minBase64Length - when using built-in masks, count only long enough base64 values, DEFAULT: 66

If strings are provided in an array to replaceMasks and extraMasks, then they're automatically converted into RegExp

Example:

const parser = new UrlValueParser({
  minHexLength: 4,
  extraMasks: [
    /^z_.*$/,
    '^[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+$'
  ]
});