Pulling specific variable from URL with javascript

Question

How do I get the access_token variable in my URL using javascript .match()?

http://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html#access_token=pYBACn8NQeCAVWgiaFG4ZD&expires_in=0

Thanks a lot for your help!

• Blanktext: you must get it with javascript.match() or your open to other Suggestions?
• Karl: Sorry for the confusion, I'm definitely open to suggestions. The .match() was just a suggestions
• Blanktext: i am working on it :-) you need all this part am i right? pYBACn8NQeCAVWgiaFG4ZD&expires_in=0 or without the =0?

Answer 1

var url = 'http://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html#access_token=pYBACn8NQeCAVWgiaFG4ZD&expires_in=0';
var token = url.split("#")[1].match(/access_token=([^&]+)/)[1];

Answer 2

The same as Parth's solution, but without split and a tiny bit more strict:

var url = 'http://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html#access_token=pYBACn8NQeCAVWgiaFG4ZD&expires_in=0';
var token = url.match(/(?:#|#.+&)access_token=([^&]+)/)[1];

• Karl: Out of curiosity, what exactly does this fragment of the expression suggest "(?:#|#.+&)"
• Eugene Ryabtsev: @Karl this is a non-capturing group and means either '#' or '#something&'. I included it to match either '#access_token=' or "#a=b&c=d&access_token=", but not '&other_access_token='
• Karl: That's clever. Thanks for explaining it to me. I don't want to just blindly use snippets without fully understanding them beforehand.

Answer 3

Same as Eugene's but does not throw exception should the match fail

var url = 'http://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html#access_token=pYBACn8NQeCAVWgiaFG4ZD&expires_in=0';
var token = (url.match(/(?:#|#.+&)access_token=([^&]+)/) || ['', null])[1];

Returns null if the token is not present in the URL