How to retrieve GET parameters from JavaScript

Question

Consider:

http://example.com/page.html?returnurl=%2Fadmin

For js within page.html, how can it retrieve GET parameters?

For the above simple example, func('returnurl') should be /admin.

But it should also work for complex query strings...

Answer 1

With the window.location object. This code gives you GET without the question mark.

window.location.search.substr(1)

From your example it will return returnurl=%2Fadmin

EDIT: I took the liberty of changing Qwerty's answer, which is really good, and as he pointed I followed exactly what the OP asked:

function findGetParameter(parameterName) {
    var result = null,
        tmp = [];
    location.search
        .substr(1)
        .split("&")
        .forEach(function (item) {
          tmp = item.split("=");
          if (tmp[0] === parameterName) result = decodeURIComponent(tmp[1]);
        });
    return result;
}

I removed the duplicated function execution from his code, replacing it a variable ( tmp ) and also I've added decodeURIComponent, exactly as OP asked. I'm not sure if this may or may not be a security issue.

Or otherwise with plain for loop, which will work even in IE8:

function findGetParameter(parameterName) {
    var result = null,
        tmp = [];
    var items = location.search.substr(1).split("&");
    for (var index = 0; index < items.length; index++) {
        tmp = items[index].split("=");
        if (tmp[0] === parameterName) result = decodeURIComponent(tmp[1]);
    }
    return result;
}