javascript how to switch pathname of window.location property and redirect

Question

I want to redirect a user from varying urls to a specific one. I've tried various flavors of replacing and I cant seem to get the behavior I want. This code works except I'm providing the hostname. I want to use the existing hostname from windows.location.hostname and just provide a new pathname. Sometimes the urls vary in size and slashes ('/').

window.location = 'http://localhost:36065/NewPath';

How would I change these urls?

http://somesite.com/xxx/yyy/zzz to http://somesite.com/NewPath
http://somesite.com/xxx/yyy to http://somesite.com/NewPath
http://somesite.com/xxx to http://somesite.com/NewPath

I think you get the point. The path can vary in paths, I want to replace everything after .com basically with 'NewPath'

I'd like a clean regex solution if possible but I am quite the rookie in that dept. Thanks for any tips or tricks.

score 30 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 13 '11 at 16:35

30

location.pathname = '/newpath.html'

answered Oct 13 '11 at 16:35

Jason Harwig

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Also a note, this keeps the hash in the URL, but that's probably not a problem. – Alex Turpin Oct 13 '11 at 16:43
Not quite sure how I missed this. So simple. Thanks! – Hcabnettek Oct 20 '11 at 16:12
@vsync, By setting the `pathname` property you maintain query params and fragment identifiers. – Jason Harwig Jun 11 '14 at 19:58
@JasonHarwig - just tried changing the pathname and it **didn't** maintain query params.. (FF30/WIN7) – vsync Jun 12 '14 at 08:49
is there a way to change the pathname so that the browser doesn't "load" the new pathname? I know there is `pushState()` but i'm trying to effectively remove the most recent url from the browser history and `pushState()` doesn't do this. – user1063287 Aug 22 '18 at 09:59
@user1063287 I believe the [`History.replaceState()`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/History/replaceState) method would help here. – Anthony Walsh Feb 09 '20 at 09:49

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 13 '11 at 16:35

4

You could always use the various location properties to recreate the part you need and append the new part to it:

window.location = location.protocol + "//" + location.hostname + "/NewPath";

answered Oct 13 '11 at 16:35

Alex Turpin

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Indeed. I could add it, but I think @JasonHarwig has the best solution. – Alex Turpin Oct 13 '11 at 16:42
This is missing the port and possibly the hash and the search fields. `Location.origin` might help here. – ARDVL Feb 21 '23 at 20:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 13 '11 at 17:06

Just to show the hard way:

// Find everything up to the first slash and save it in a backreference
regexp = /(\w+:\/\/[^\/]+)\/.*/;

// Replace the href with the backreference and the new uri
newurl = windows.location.href.replace(regexp, "$1/dir/foo/bar/newpage.html");

javascript how to switch pathname of window.location property and redirect

3 Answers3