Orpheus

URL Query String Parser

Break a URL into readable parameters, decoded.

Options
Flag tracking parameters
Output as JSON
Result

Everything is processed in this tab. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere.

Every tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.

A query string is everything after the ? in a URL: key=value pairs joined by ampersands, percent-encoded. Parsing decodes them into readable text and shows which are tracking rather than functional.

How to use Query String Parser

  1. Paste the URL. The whole thing, or just the part after the question mark.
  2. Read the parameters. Decoded and aligned, with tracking ones marked.
  3. Take the clean link. A version with the tracking parameters removed is offered underneath.

About parsing a query string

A query string is the part of a URL after the question mark, structured as key=value pairs separated by ampersands and percent-encoded so that arbitrary text can travel safely inside an address. Reading one by eye is unpleasant once it has more than three parameters and encoded values, which is most of the links that get shared. The genuinely useful thing a parser reveals is how much of a typical link is not about the page at all. Campaign tags, click identifiers and session markers frequently outnumber the functional parameters, and they persist when a link is forwarded — so a URL copied from an email and pasted into a group chat can attribute every one of those clicks to the original recipient, and in the case of click identifiers can associate them with a single advertising interaction. None of that affects which page loads, which is why stripping them is safe. Two structural notes worth knowing. A key may legitimately appear more than once, and there is no standard for what a server should do with it — implementations variously take the first, the last, or all of them, which is a real source of bugs. And anything after a # is a fragment rather than part of the query; it never reaches the server at all.

Frequently asked questions

What are utm parameters and can I remove them?
They are analytics tags telling the destination site where a visit came from — source, medium, campaign. They almost never affect what page you see, so removing them before sharing a link is safe and stops your visit being attributed to whoever sent it to you.
What is fbclid or gclid?
Click identifiers added by Facebook and Google to attribute a click to an ad. They are unique per click, which means a link you share carrying one can associate your recipients with your original click. Strip them before passing a link on.
Can a parameter appear more than once?
Yes, and it is how multi-select filters are usually encoded — tag=a&tag=b. There is no standard for how a server should interpret it: some take the first, some the last, some build an array. The JSON output here preserves all of them.
Why is my parameter value full of %20 and %3A?
Because characters with structural meaning in a URL are percent-encoded. %20 is a space and %3A a colon. Parsing decodes them back, which is usually what you want when reading a link rather than constructing one.

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