javascripturlparametersquery-string

How to select URL parameter and exclude all the other stuff that comes after it?

I'm using dynamic text based on a URL parameter. Basically, the goal is to select the first word in the URL parameter and insert it into a paragraph. However, in my current code, it selects the first word in the URL parameter and everything else that comes after it.

Destination URL is like this:

https://example.com/?ref=firstWord/blah/blah/blah

I want to select just the firstWord (excluding /blah/blah/blah) and insert it into a paragraph. I should mention that firstWord is a variable wildcard-type of word.

Here's the code that selects the firstWord and everything else after it:

var url = new URL(window.location.href);
var firstWord = url.searchParams.get("ref");
document.getElementById("firstWord").innerHTML = firstWord;
Welcome to <p id='firstWord'></p>

Here's my attempt to select just firstWord and discard /blah/blah/blah:

var url = new URL(window.location.href);
var firstWord = url.searchParams.get("ref").split('/');
document.getElementById("firstWord").innerHTML = firstWord;
Welcome to <p id='firstWord'></p>

However, this does not exclude /blah/blah/blah. Instead it inserts it into the paragraph like so:

Welcome to firstWord,blah,blah,blah. I don't understand where the commas came from.

Solution 
  • const ref = url.searchParams.get("ref");
const [justTheFirstPart] = ref.split('/');

    or:

    const justTheFirstPart = ref.split('/')[0];

    Will fail if mainParam is undefined.