How to test if a URL string is absolute or relative?

Question

How can I test a URL if it is a relative or absolute path in Javascript or jQuery? I want to handle accordingly depending if the passed in URL is a local or external path.

Answer 1

Here's a pretty robust solution for the browser environment:

Let the browser handle everything. No need for some complicated/error prone regexes.

const isAbsoluteUrl = (url) => {
  const link = document.createElement('a');
  link.href = url;
  return link.origin + link.pathname + link.search + link.hash === url;
};