Categorized | others

Javascript Get the Current Path without %20 and / backslash

To get the current path using javascript without the %20 and / (backslash), use the following code:

1 2	var path = document.location.pathname; alert (path);

However using the javascript path variable in this manner gives something like this:

So now we use the string replace function in Javascript to rectify this:

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var path = document.location.pathname;

path = path.replace(/\//gi, "");

path = path.replace(/%20/gi, " ");

path = path.replace(/\\/gi, "\/");

alert (path);

var path = document.location.pathname;

This javascript code gives us the path variable without the %20 and without the / (forward slash).

We can now use this path to access any other file on the system relative to the above path.

How this works:
1. The path = path.replace(/\//gi, “”) instruction strips the first forward slash (/) in the path string.
2. The path = path.replace(/%20/gi, ” “) replaces any occurrence of %20 in the path string with a space as would appear on the address bar of the computer.
3. Finally we replace any backslashes with forward slashes using path = path.replace(/\\/gi, “\/”)

The syntax of the replace function in javascript is:

var my_string = any_string.replace(/old_sub_string_to_replace/gi, “new_sub_string_to_replace_with“)

Now lets use this technique and replace “script” in “javascript” with ” and C++” and see what happens.

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var any_string= "javascript";

var my_string = any_string.replace(/script/gi, " and C++");

alert (my_string);

would give

The operators “g” used at the end of the string to be replaced indicates that any occurrence (global) of that specific substring needs to be replaced. The operator “i” tells the function to make a case insensitive replacement.

In case you wanted to get only the path and not the filename, you could use:

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var path = document.location.pathname;

path = path.substr(0,path.lastIndexOf("\\")+1);

path = path.replace(/\//gi, "");

path = path.replace(/%20/gi, " ");

path = path.replace(/\\/gi, "\/");

alert (path);

var path = document.location.pathname;

This will remove the name of the file from the path.