Proper URL forming with Query String and Anchor Hashtag

Question

When both a query string and anchor tag (hash tag) are visible in a URL, what is the proper order for them to appear?

http://www.whatever.com?var=val#anchor

Answer 1

If intention of using # is to denote page fragment then - yes ? then #.

If # is coming before ? and it is not to denote page fragment (this can happen when # is part of authority (username and password)) it has to be encoded or you are in trouble. Same applies to any other special characters (:,@,...) that could give different meaning to url.

Answer 2

Note that when the URL has both anchor tags (#) and query strings (?), the browser may ignore the query string and navigate to the anchor tag without reloading the page.

It may be necessary to submit the page using a

    <form action='webpage.php?q=string#tag' method='GET or POST'>
    <input type='text' id='q' name='q' value='string'>
    <input type='submit' value='submit'>
    </form> 

rather than just a URL link

    <a href='webpage.php?q=string#tag'>.

Answer 3

You may place this javascript in the common part of your site to force redirecting all incorrect requests to the analog with proper order:

<script>
    var p=location.hash.indexOf("?");
    if(p>=0){
        var goodLoc = location.href.replace(location.hash,"");
        location.replace(goodLoc + window.location.hash.substring(p) + window.location.hash.substring(0,p));
    }
</script>

Answer 4

? should come before the # as noted in RFC 3986:

relative-ref = relative-part [ "?" query ] [ "#" fragment ]

Taken from an answer over at superuser (https://superuser.com/questions/498617/does-an-anchor-tag-come-before-the-query-string-or-after):

Answer 5

?var=var#hash

everything after # is client side.

Also, look into url rewriting to get rid of ugly ?var=var