Special Characters in URL query string

Question

I have a situation where the user is able to enter any characters they want in a URL query string.

Example:

The web page must accept the ID parameter as it is no matter what the characters are. However certain special characters such as ampersand(&) and pound(#) creates problems. How can I accept them as is?

wanovak · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19 15:57:40Z

8

This:

encodeURIComponent(uri)

Where uri is the component after the ?ID=

answered Jul 19, 2011 at 15:57

wanovak

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Comments

Rocky Pulley · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19 16:12:12Z

4

If the user is entering the query string, they must properly encode the query string first. If you are creating the query string yourself, such as from a form submission, you will need to use a URL encode method.

answered Jul 19, 2011 at 16:12

Rocky Pulley

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2 Comments

m0g Over a year ago

Is there no control that I can add on the web page side where I can interpret special characters such as ampersand(&) as just any ordinary character?

Rocky Pulley Over a year ago

I think your only choice would be to iterate through all parameters, assuming that ID is the only one you expect. So if the user enters ?ID=123&456. Then see what it gives you, the servlet API may only give you one parameter ID with the value 123. But it may give you a second parameter 456, in which case you can append them together. This is really a bad solution though as it may be out of order when you iterate through. The best thing would be to change your requirements because the technology does not support it the way they want it to work.

Muhammad Akhtar · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19 16:13:32Z

1

Encode your URL HttpServerUtility.UrlEncode Method (String)

Edit: following your comment, you want to get query String value of ID

 String id = Request.QueryString["ID"];

edited Jul 19, 2011 at 16:13

answered Jul 19, 2011 at 15:57

Muhammad Akhtar

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2 Comments

m0g Over a year ago

In my case the user enters the URL in the address bar. What I need to do is get just the ID entered by the user. How can I do this without having any control towards the URL but only the query string?

m0g Over a year ago

but in that case ID will be an empty string in a situation where ID=&XXXX when what I really want is ID to equal "&XXXX"

bopjesvla · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-19 16:06:32Z

0

Use

userinput = escape(userinput)

then, in PHP:

$userinput = urldecode($_GET['id'])

or in JS:

userinput = unescape(userinput)

edited Jul 19, 2011 at 16:06

answered Jul 19, 2011 at 16:00

bopjesvla

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