Dealing with slash characters in request parameter using Express route

Question

I'm currently working on a URL shortener app using Express. I want the user to be able to enter a URL like this:

https://www.exampleurlshortener.com/new/https://www.google.com

The problem is whenever I try to specify the parameter using Express it will only extract the 'https:' section and everything after that is lost because the 2 backslashes are registering as a new route:

app.get('/new/:url', (req, res) => {
  console.log(req.params.url) // outputs 'https:'

I thought about specifying each section as a new parameter but if inner is blank this ends up throwing a 404. I would need to check if inner is blank using this method otherwise the user would be able to type https:/something/www.google.com

app.get('/new/:prot/:inner/:address', (req, res) => {
  // throws 404 on valid addresses

Is there a simple way to solve this that I'm missing? Is the full URL available to be checked somewhere in the request? Or can parameters ignore backslashes?

Try using `req.url`, or passing the parameter through query-string (I would recommend this 2nd approach, it will also be simpler for clients of your API) — salezica, Feb 20 '17 at 18:27

score 21 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 31 '22 at 00:04

21

You can use an expression to for your URL placeholders:

app.get('/new/:url(*)', (req, res) => {
  console.log(req.params.url) // will output 'https://www.google.com'

edited Jul 31 '22 at 00:04

Mitch Talmadge

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answered Feb 20 '17 at 18:31

hjpotter92

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That's exactly what I wanted. I looked through that documentation but I couldn't see an example like what you provided. Thanks. – BenShelton Feb 20 '17 at 18:38
13

Just a note, when I tried your code with the parameters `(.*)` I was getting 404 errors again, but using `(*)` instead worked in my case. – BenShelton Feb 21 '17 at 09:42
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"The hyphen (-) and the dot (.) are interpreted literally by string-based paths.". So `(*)` is probably what you intended to do. – FINDarkside Oct 18 '19 at 17:08
I was having similar issues and this thread just solved it. Thanks. – sakib11 Dec 11 '19 at 06:22
what happens if you do something like `'/new/:url(*)/:var'` – João Pimentel Ferreira May 29 '23 at 19:39
@JoãoPimentelFerreira you can test patterns as you need on this webpage: https://forbeslindesay.github.io/express-route-tester/ – hjpotter92 May 30 '23 at 05:25

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 24 '23 at 05:04

SOLUTION

If any parameter contains "/", then add "(*)" after the parameter name.

EXAMPLE

Route: "/change/job-entry/:order_number"

The parameter "order_number" represents a value like "Anik-13/3/2023-Paharika-Srilanka"

CHANGES

Route: "/change/job-entry/:order_number(*)"

Dealing with slash characters in request parameter using Express route

2 Answers2

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