URL.canParse

Parsing URLs on the client side has been common practice for 20 years.Although initially using unreadable regular expressions, the JavaScript specification eventually new URL How to parse URLs.meanwhile URL Very useful if a valid URL is provided, but an invalid string will be thrown. new way, URL.canParseit will be possible to validate URLs.

Provide a malformed URL new URL Because it throws an error, every time I use new URL Must be within try/catch block:

// The correct, safest way
try 
  const url = new URL('
 catch (e) 
  console.log("Bad URL provided!");


// Oops, these are problematic (mostly relative URLs)
new URL('/');
new URL('../');
new URL('/pornhub-interview');
new URL('?q=search+term');
new URL('davidwalsh.name');

// Also works
new URL('javascript:;');

As you can see, the string is <a> Tags are sometimes not attached new URL.and URL.canParsecan be avoided. try/catch Determining the validity of a URL is confusing:

// Detect problematic URLs
URL.canParse('/'); // false
URL.canParse('/pornhub-interview'); // false
URL.canParse('davidwalsh.name'); //false

// Proper usage
if (URL.canParse(' 
  const parsed = new URL('

We’ve come a long way from arcane regular expressions and burners. <a> elements for this URL and URL.canParse API. Nowadays, URLs represent more than location information, so the existence of a reliable API is very useful for his web developer.