hash to query string using semicolon

[metaperl]

Both URI::QueryParam and Data::URIEncode use '&' as the separator for query parameters.

I would like to form a query string from a hash and have the query string use semicolon as separator.

I know the code is short, but I dont believe in writing what has/should have been written... plus what a shame that the first link for Perl in Google does not even escape its data.

[Corion]

What's wrong with using just CGI?

use strict;
use CGI;

my $c=CGI->new();

$c->param('foo'=>'bar');
$c->param('baz'=>'boo');

print $c->url(-query=>1,-relative=>1);

__END__
?foo=bar;baz=boo

[jasonk]

URI::QueryParam doesn't use anything for query parameters, it just passes it's data on to URI, which lets you choose how they are delimited...

use URI;
my $u = URI->new( "http://www.example.com/" );
$u->query_form( { foo => 1, bar => 2 }, ';' );
print "$u\n";

And if you just want the query string, you can get it from $u->query.

[ikegami]

use URI::Escape qw( uri_escape );

my $query = '?' . join ';',
            map { uri_escape($_->[0]) .'='. uri_escape($_->[1]) }
            @query_args;

Update: Oops, Forgot there are keys and values rather than just values. Fixed.

[Your Mother]

And you don't have to go all the way to QueryParam; depending on your needs. URI proper supports it now: $uri->query_form( \%hash, $delim ).

[Your Mother]

I should have included that this can be set globally with $URI::DEFAULT_QUERY_FORM_DELIMITER = ";";.

I know it's mildly controversial with the current RFCs but the & as standard was always a mistake since it effectively made real world separators the incredibly clunky &. As long as you support or know the receiving end supports the semicolon, I think it's the best practice. While I'm telling you kids to get off my lawn, the ?arg[0]=foo&arg[1]=bar crap we got from PHP and ruby webdevs being unable to parse naked lists in order is also a travesty.