The querystring.parse() method parses a URL query string (str) into a collection of key and value pairs.

For example, the query string 'foo=bar&abc=xyz&abc=123' is parsed into:

{
  "foo": "bar",
  "abc": ["xyz", "123"]
}

The object returned by the querystring.parse() method does not prototypically inherit from the JavaScript Object. This means that typical Object methods such as obj.toString(), obj.hasOwnProperty(), and others are not defined and will not work.

By default, percent-encoded characters within the query string will be assumed to use UTF-8 encoding. If an alternative character encoding is used, then an alternative decodeURIComponent option will need to be specified:

// Assuming gbkDecodeURIComponent function already exists...

querystring.parse('w=%D6%D0%CE%C4&foo=bar', null, null,
                  { decodeURIComponent: gbkDecodeURIComponent });