How to send a string with & in it as a querystring value?

Question

How can i send a string with a & in it (Ex : google & facebook) as the querystring value ? Now

var strUrl="ajaxpage.aspx?subject=my subject line &cmnt=google & facebook";
strUrl = encodeURI(strUrl);

$.ajax({ url: strUrl, success: function (data) {
     alert(data)
     }
 });

Now when i read query string "cmnt", I am getting only "google" because it breaks the &

What is the workaround for this ? Thanks

hunter · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 15:53:29Z

5

You will need to encode that character or the entire url

& would be encoded as %26

var strUrl="ajaxpage.aspx?subject=my subject line &cmnt=google %26 facebook";

or call encodeURIComponent()

var strUrl = "ajaxpage.aspx" 
    + "?subject=" + encodeURIComponent("my subject line")
    + "&cmnt=" + encodeURIComponent("google & facebook");

edited Jul 18, 2011 at 15:53

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 15:38

hunter

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1 Comment

Quentin Over a year ago

Umm. When you encodeURIComponent you have to do it on a component of a URI, not the whole query string. With that example it will encode all the & and = so the query string will just be one big string and have no key/value pairs.

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 15:40:38Z

3

The short answer is: Use encodeURIComponent on data strings before sticking them in query strings.

The slightly longer answer is: You're using jQuery. It will fix this for you if you let it. Let the URL be just the URL to the main resource, then pass any data you want in the query string using the data property of the object you pass to the ajax method.

$.ajax({ 
    url: "ajaxpage.aspx", 
    data: { 
        subject: "my subject line",
        cmnt: "google & facebook"
    },
    success: function (data) {
        alert(data)
    }
 });

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 15:40

Quentin

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Comments

David Rhoden · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 15:43:16Z

0

You can URL encode it as %26. Will that work for what you need to do?

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 15:43

David Rhoden

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Comments

Mrchief · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-18 15:49:04Z

0

Try using ~~escape~~(see why) encodeURIComponent on 'google & facebook' and append to query string.

But I would recommend @Quentin's jQuery fix!

edited Jul 18, 2011 at 15:49

answered Jul 18, 2011 at 15:40

Mrchief

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2 Comments

Quentin Over a year ago

Don't use escape. Never use escape. It has been deprecated with good reason.

Mrchief Over a year ago

@Quentin: Yes, you're right. There are caveats, so I shouldn't be posting it for general consumption like I did.

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