How to replace url parameter with javascript/jquery?

I've been looking for an efficient way to do this but haven't been able to find it, basically what I need is that given this url for example:

http://localhost/mysite/includes/phpThumb.php?src=http://media2.jupix.co.uk/v3/clients/4/properties/795/IMG_795_1_large.jpg&w=592&aoe=1&q=100

I'd like to be able to change the URL in the src parameter with another value using javascript or jquery, is this possible?

Thanks in advance.

The following solution combines other answers and handles some special cases:

• The parameter does not exist in the original url
• The parameter is the only parameter
• The parameter is first or last
• The new parameter value is the same as the old
• The url ends with a ? character
• \b ensures another parameter ending with paramName won't be matched

Solution:

function replaceUrlParam(url, paramName, paramValue)
{
    if (paramValue == null) {
        paramValue = '';
    }
    var pattern = new RegExp('\\b('+paramName+'=).*?(&|#|$)');
    if (url.search(pattern)>=0) {
        return url.replace(pattern,'$1' + paramValue + '$2');
    }
    url = url.replace(/[?#]$/,'');
    return url + (url.indexOf('?')>0 ? '&' : '?') + paramName + '=' + paramValue;
}

Known limitations:

• Does not clear a parameter by setting paramValue to null, instead it sets it to empty string. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/25214672 if you want to remove the parameter.

Nowdays that's possible with native JS

var href = new URL('https://google.com?q=cats');
href.searchParams.set('q', 'dogs');
console.log(href.toString()); // https://google.com/?q=dogs

Wouldn't this be a better solution?

var text = 'http://localhost/mysite/includes/phpThumb.php?src=http://media2.jupix.co.uk/v3/clients/4/properties/795/IMG_795_1_large.jpg&w=592&aoe=1&q=100';
var newSrc = 'www.google.com';
var newText = text.replace(/(src=).*?(&)/,'$1' + newSrc + '$2');

EDIT:

added some clarity in code and kept 'src' in the resulting link

$1 represents first part within the () (i.e) src= and $2 represents the second part within the () (i.e) &, so this indicates you are going to change the value between src and &. More clear, it should be like this:

src='changed value'& // this is to be replaced with your original url

ADD-ON for replacing all the ocurrences:

If you have several parameters with the same name, you can append to the regex global flag, like this text.replace(/(src=).*?(&)/g,'$1' + newSrc + '$2'); and that will replaces all the values for those params that shares the same name.

Javascript now give a very useful functionnality to handle url parameters: URLSearchParams

var searchParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
searchParams.set('src','newSrc')
var newParams = searchParams.toString()

Here is modified stenix's code, it's not perfect but it handles cases where there is a param in url that contains provided parameter, like:

/search?searchquery=text and 'query' is provided.

In this case searchquery param value is changed.

Code:

function replaceUrlParam(url, paramName, paramValue){
    var pattern = new RegExp('(\\?|\\&)('+paramName+'=).*?(&|$)')
    var newUrl=url
    if(url.search(pattern)>=0){
        newUrl = url.replace(pattern,'$1$2' + paramValue + '$3');
    }
    else{
        newUrl = newUrl + (newUrl.indexOf('?')>0 ? '&' : '?') + paramName + '=' + paramValue
    }
    return newUrl
}

In modern browsers (everything except IE9 and below), our lives are a little easier now with the new URL api

var url = new window.URL(document.location); // fx. http://host.com/endpoint?abc=123
url.searchParams.set("foo", "bar");
console.log(url.toString()); // http://host/endpoint?abc=123&foo=bar
url.searchParams.set("foo", "ooft");
console.log(url.toString()); // http://host/endpoint?abc=123&foo=ooft

If you are having very narrow and specific use-case like replacing a particular parameter of given name that have alpha-numeric values with certain special characters capped upto certain length limit, you could try this approach:

urlValue.replace(/\bsrc=[0-9a-zA-Z_@.#+-]{1,50}\b/, 'src=' + newValue);

Example:

let urlValue = 'www.example.com?a=b&src=test-value&p=q';
const newValue = 'sucess';
console.log(urlValue.replace(/\bsrc=[0-9a-zA-Z_@.#+-]{1,50}\b/, 'src=' + newValue));
// output - www.example.com?a=b&src=sucess&p=q

// 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");
 
// 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());

I have get best solution to replace the URL parameter.

Following function will replace room value to 3 in the following URL.

http://example.com/property/?min=50000&max=60000&room=1&property_type=House

---

var newurl = replaceUrlParam('room','3');
history.pushState(null, null, newurl);

---

function replaceUrlParam(paramName, paramValue){
    var url = window.location.href;

    if (paramValue == null) {
        paramValue = '';
    }

    var pattern = new RegExp('\\b('+paramName+'=).*?(&|#|$)');
    if (url.search(pattern)>=0) {
        return url.replace(pattern,'$1' + paramValue + '$2');
    }
    
    url = url.replace(/[?#]$/,'');
    return url + (url.indexOf('?')>0 ? '&' : '?') + paramName + '=' + paramValue;
}

> Output

http://example.com/property/?min=50000&max=60000&room=3&property_type=House

Editing a Parameter The set method of the URLSearchParams object sets the new value of the parameter.

After setting the new value you can get the new query string with the toString() method. This query string can be set as the new value of the search property of the URL object.

The final new url can then be retrieved with the toString() method of the URL object.

var query_string = url.search;

var search_params = new URLSearchParams(query_string); 

// new value of "id" is set to "101"
search_params.set('id', '101');

// change the search property of the main url
url.search = search_params.toString();

// the new url string
var new_url = url.toString();

// output : http://demourl.com/path?id=101&topic=main
console.log(new_url);

Source - https://usefulangle.com/post/81/javascript-change-url-parameters

UpdatE: Make it into a nice function for you: http://jsfiddle.net/wesbos/KH25r/1/

function swapOutSource(url, newSource) {
    params = url.split('&');
    var src = params[0].split('=');
    params.shift();
    src[1] = newSource;
    var newUrl = ( src.join('=') + params.join('&')); 
    return newUrl; 
}

Then go at it!

var newUrl = swapOutSource("http://localhost/mysite/includes/phpThumb.php?src=http://media2.jupix.co.uk/v3/clients/4/properties/795/IMG_795_1_large.jpg&w=592&aoe=1&q=100","http://link/to/new.jpg");


console.log(newUrl);

If you look closely you'll see two surprising things about URLs: (1) they seem simple, but the details and corner cases are actually hard, (2) Amazingly JavaScript doesn't provide a full API for making working with them any easier. I think a full-fledged library is in order to avoid people re-inventing the wheel themselves or copying some random dude's clever, but likely buggy regex code snippet. Maybe try URI.js (http://medialize.github.io/URI.js/)

I use this method which:

• replace the url in the history

• return the value of the removed parameter

    function getUrlParameterAndRemoveParameter(paramName) {
    	var url = window.location.origin + window.location.pathname;
    	var s = window.location.search.substring(1);
    	var pArray = (s == "" ? [] : s.split('&'));
  
    	var paramValue = null;
    	var pArrayNew = [];
    	for (var i = 0; i < pArray.length; i++) {
    		var pName = pArray[i].split('=');
    		if (pName[0] === paramName) {
    			paramValue = pName[1] === undefined ? true : decodeURIComponent(pName[1]);
    		}
    		else {
    			pArrayNew.push(pArray[i]);
    		}
    	}
    	
    	url += (pArrayNew.length == 0 ? "" : "?" + pArrayNew.join('&'));
    	window.history.replaceState(window.history.state, document.title, url);
    	
    	return paramValue;
    }
  

How about something like this:

<script>
function changeQueryVariable(keyString, replaceString) {
    var query = window.location.search.substring(1);
    var vars = query.split("&");
    var replaced = false;
    for (var i = 0; i < vars.length; i++) {
        var pair = vars[i].split("=");
        if (pair[0] == keyString) {
            vars[i] = pair[0] + "="+ replaceString;
            replaced = true;
        }
    }
    if (!replaced) vars.push(keyString + "=" + replaceString);
    return vars.join("&");
}
</script>

In addition to @stenix, this worked perfectly to me

 url =  window.location.href;
    paramName = 'myparam';
		paramValue = $(this).val();
		var pattern = new RegExp('('+paramName+'=).*?(&|$)') 
		var newUrl = url.replace(pattern,'$1' + paramValue + '$2');
		var n=url.indexOf(paramName);
		alert(n)
		if(n == -1){
			newUrl = newUrl + (newUrl.indexOf('?')>0 ? '&' : '?') + paramName + '=' + paramValue 
		}
		window.location.href = newUrl;

Here no need to save the "url" variable, just replace in current url

try this

var updateQueryStringParam = function (key, value) {

    var baseUrl = [location.protocol, '//', location.host, location.pathname].join(''),
        urlQueryString = document.location.search,
        newParam = key + '=' + value,
        params = '?' + newParam;

    // If the "search" string exists, then build params from it
    if (urlQueryString) {
        var updateRegex = new RegExp('([\?&])' + key + '[^&]*');
        var removeRegex = new RegExp('([\?&])' + key + '=[^&;]+[&;]?');

        if( typeof value == 'undefined' || value == null || value == '' ) { // Remove param if value is empty
            params = urlQueryString.replace(removeRegex, "$1");
            params = params.replace( /[&;]$/, "" );

        } else if (urlQueryString.match(updateRegex) !== null) { // If param exists already, update it
            params = urlQueryString.replace(updateRegex, "$1" + newParam);

        } else { // Otherwise, add it to end of query string
            params = urlQueryString + '&' + newParam;
        }
    }

    // no parameter was set so we don't need the question mark
    params = params == '?' ? '' : params;

    window.history.replaceState({}, "", baseUrl + params);
};

A solution without Regex, a little bit easier on the eye, one I was looking for

This supports ports, hash parameters etc.

Uses browsers attribute element as a parser.

function setUrlParameters(url, parameters) {
    var parser = document.createElement('a');
    parser.href = url;

    url = "";

    if (parser.protocol) {
        url += parser.protocol + "//";
    }

    if (parser.host) {
        url += parser.host;
    }

    if (parser.pathname) {
        url += parser.pathname;
    }

    var queryParts = {};

    if (parser.search) {
        var search = parser.search.substring(1);

        var searchParts = search.split("&");
        for (var i = 0; i < searchParts.length; i++) {
            var searchPart = searchParts[i];

            var whitespaceIndex = searchPart.indexOf("=");

            if (whitespaceIndex !== -1) {
                var key = searchPart.substring(0, whitespaceIndex);
                var value = searchPart.substring(whitespaceIndex + 1);

                queryParts[key] = value;
            } else {
                queryParts[searchPart] = false;
            }
        }
    }

    var parameterKeys = Object.keys(parameters);

    for (var i = 0; i < parameterKeys.length; i++) {
        var parameterKey = parameterKeys[i];

        queryParts[parameterKey] = parameters[parameterKey];
    }


    var queryPartKeys = Object.keys(queryParts);

    var query = "";

    for (var i = 0; i < queryPartKeys.length; i++) {
        if (query.length === 0) {
            query += "?";
        }
        if (query.length > 1) {
            query += "&";
        }

        var queryPartKey = queryPartKeys[i];

        query += queryPartKey;

        if (queryParts[queryPartKey]) {
            query += "=";

            query += queryParts[queryPartKey];
        }
    }

    url += query;

    if (parser.hash) {
        url += parser.hash;
    }

    return url;
}

2020 answer since I was missing the functionality to automatically delete a parameter, so:

Based on my favorite answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/20420424/6284674 : I combined it with the ability to:

• automatically delete an URL param if the value if null or '' based on answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/25214672/6284674

• optionally push the updated URL directly in the window.location bar

• IE support since it's only using regex and no URLSearchParams

JSfiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/MickV/zxc3b47u/

function replaceUrlParam(url, paramName, paramValue){
    if(paramValue == null || paramValue == "")
        return url
        .replace(new RegExp('[?&]' + paramValue + '=[^&#]*(#.*)?$'), '$1')
        .replace(new RegExp('([?&])' + paramValue + '=[^&]*&'), '$1');   
    url = url.replace(/\?$/,'');
    var pattern = new RegExp('\\b('+paramName+'=).*?(&|$)')
    if(url.search(pattern)>=0){
        return url.replace(pattern,'$1' + paramValue + '$2');
    }
    return url + (url.indexOf('?')>0 ? '&' : '?') + paramName + '=' + paramValue 
}

// Orginal URL (default jsfiddle console URL)
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true

console.log(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a','2'));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true&a=2

console.log(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a',''));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true

console.log(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a',3));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true&a=3

console.log(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a', null));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true&

//Optionally also update the replaced URL in the window location bar
//Note: This does not work in JSfiddle, but it does in a normal browser
function pushUrl(url){
	window.history.pushState("", "", replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a','2'));   
}


pushUrl(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a','2'));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true&a=2

pushUrl(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a',''));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true

pushUrl(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a',3));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true&a=3

pushUrl(replaceUrlParam(window.location.href,'a', null));   
//https://fiddle.jshell.net/_display/?editor_console=true&

Here is function which replaces url param with paramVal

function updateURLParameter(url, param, paramVal){
        if(!url.includes('?')){
            return url += '?' + param + '=' + paramVal;
        }else if(!url.includes(param)){
            return url += '&' + param + '=' + paramVal;
        }else {
            let paramStartIndex = url.search(param);
            let paramEndIndex = url.indexOf('&', paramStartIndex);
            if (paramEndIndex == -1){
                paramEndIndex = url.length;
            }
            let brands = url.substring(paramStartIndex, paramEndIndex);
    
            return url.replace(brands, param + '=' + paramVal);
        }
    }

A lengthier, but maybe more flexible, answer that relies on two functions. The first one produces a key/value dictionary with all the parameters, the other one doing the substitution itself. This should work on old browsers, and can also create the parameter when it doesn't exist.

var get_all_params=function(url)
{               
    var regexS = /(?<=&|\?)([^=]*=[^&#]*)/;
    var regex = new RegExp( regexS,'g' );
    var results = url.match(regex);
    if(results==null)
    {
        return {};
    }
    else
    {
        returned={};
        for(i=0;i<results.length;i++)
        {
            var tmp=results[i];                
            var regexS2="([^=]+)=([^=]+)";
            var regex2 = new RegExp( regexS2 );
            var results2 = regex2.exec(tmp );                
            returned[results2[1]]=results2[2];
        }
        return returned;
    }   
}

var replace_param=function(url, param, value)
{
	var get_params=get_all_params(url);
	var base_url=url.split("?");
	get_params[param]=value;
	var new_params=Array();
	for(key in get_params)
	{
		new_params.push(key+"="+get_params[key]);
	}
	return base_url[0]+"?"+new_params.join("&");
}

Exemple of call :

var url ="https://geoserver.xxx.com/geoserver/project?service=WFS&version=1.0.0&request=GetFeature&typename=localities";
url=replace_param(url, "service","WMS");