Javascript function to parse a query string

getQueryString-function.js

/*
    This function is from my answer to a question on Stack Overflow
    http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4963673/get-url-array-variables-in-javascript-jquery/4963817#4963817
*/



function getQueryString () {
    var ret = {};
    var parts = (document.location.toString().split('?')[1]).split('&');
    for (var i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) {

        var p = parts[i].split('=');
        // so strings will be correctly parsed:
        p[1] = decodeURIComponent(p[1].replace(/\+/g, " "));

        if (p[0].search(/\[\]/) >= 0) { // then it's an array
            p[0] = p[0].replace('[]','');


            if (typeof ret[p[0]] != 'object') ret[p[0]] = [];
            ret[p[0]].push(p[1]);
        } else {
            ret[p[0]] = p[1];
        }
    }
    return ret;
}

/*

    But there are caveats. It will only work on a correctly formed
    query string - there's no error detection. Also, it does not
    work on numbered/indexed arrays.. that is when your array is
    defined in the query string as:

    ?category[3]=1&category[4]=7&category[20]=3&id=8az

*/