# parsePathname(string) - [Description](#description) - [Signature](#signature) - [How it works](#how-it-works) --- ### Description Turns a string of the form `/path/user?a=1&b=2` to an object ```javascript var object = m.parsePathname("/path/user?a=1&b=2") // {path: "/path/user", params: {a: "1", b: "2"}} ``` --- ### Signature `object = m.parsePathname(string)` Argument | Type | Required | Description ------------ | -------- | -------- | --- `url` | `String` | Yes | A URL **returns** | `Object` | | A `{path, params}` pair where `path` is the [normalized path](paths.md#path-normalization) and `params` is the [parsed parameters](paths.md#parameter-normalization). [How to read signatures](signatures.md) --- ### How it works The `m.parsePathname` method creates an object from a path with a possible query string. It is useful for parsing a local path name into its parts, and it's what [`m.route`](route.md) uses internally to normalize paths to later match them. It uses [`m.parseQueryString`](parseQueryString.md) to parse the query parameters into an object. ```javascript var data = m.parsePathname("/path/user?a=hello&b=world") // data.path is "/path/user" // data.params is {a: "hello", b: "world"} ``` ### General-purpose URL parsing The method is called `parsePathname` because it applies to pathnames. If you want a general-purpose URL parser, you should use [the global `URL` class](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/URL) instead.