sindresorhus/query-string

Lack of symmetry between parse and stringify

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#295 opened on Nov 10, 2020

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 (3 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (6,538 stars) (459 forks)batch import
enhancementhelp wanted

Description

stringify(parse('?%20&')) yields only &.

Bit of an edge-case I admit, but do we want to be losing this information?

parse('?%20&') yields {"":null," ":null}.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
backend
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
under 1 hour
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
basic understanding of query stringsfamiliarity with stringify and parse functions
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
85
Research direction
The issue reveals that `stringify(parse('?%20&'))` returns `&` instead of preserving the encoded space. To fix, investigate the encoding logic in the `stringify` function (likely in `index.js`). The `parse` function correctly returns `{"":null," ":null}`, so the loss occurs during stringification. Check if the library intentionally drops empty values or if there's a bug in handling keys with spaces. A maintainer comment (if any) could guide the expected behavior.