Insert string from <script> into to <a href="">

Question

I have the following script:

<script>var b=document;var c=varName;b.write(c);</script>

and I want to pass the value from the <script> tag to the name URL parameter in a link, in place of the * here:

`<a href="whatsapp://send?text='Hello This is My Demo Site. Visit http://example.com/ex.html?name=ABC*'"> WhatsApp </a>`

My attempt resulted in getting the whole script string:

<a href="whatsapp://send?text='Hello This is My Demo Site. Visit http://example.com/ex.html?name=ABC<script>var b=document;var c=varName;b.write(c);</script>'"> WhatsApp </a>

Apologies, but this is completely unclear. Perhaps you could have a friend or colleague help with the English. — T.J. Crowder
– T.J. Crowder, Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 15:57

allicarn · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-15 20:19:55Z

7

No, you cannot insert scripts within an HTML attribute. You must compose the complete HTML first:

<a id="caption" href="whatsapp://send?text=Hello This is My Demo Site. Visit http://example.com/ex.html">link text</a>

... And then, you can modify it from javascript:

<script>
    var a = document.getElementById("caption");
    var question = "%3F";
    var equal = "%3D";
    a.href += question + "name" + equal + "ABC" + lusername;
</script>

Note that I did intentionally escape "?" and "=" when forming the parameters, because I understand they are arguments for the http://www.example.com URL and not for the whatsapp://send URL.

edited Dec 15, 2015 at 20:19

allicarn

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answered Dec 15, 2015 at 16:11

Little Santi

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2 Comments

Pratik Butani Over a year ago

You are really awesome :) Nice Understanding. I am sorry for my bad English but you got me. Accepted :)

Little Santi Over a year ago

@PratikButani Thanks. :-)

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:59:05Z

0

If the value of varName is known when the page loads, and is set in a script tag earlier in the HTML than where you want the link, then you can just output the entire link with script:

<script>
document.write(
    '<a href="whatsapp://send?text=\'Hello This is My Demo Site. Visit http://example.com/ex.html%3Fname%3DABC' +
    varName + '\'"> WhatsApp </a>'
);
</script>

If varName is dynamic, then you'll want to do something like Little Santi showed you each time you change it. See also his/her point about encoding the ? and = on the example.com link text, which I've applied above.

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:59

CommunityBot

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answered Dec 15, 2015 at 16:40

T.J. Crowder

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