# normalize-url [](https://travis-ci.org/sindresorhus/normalize-url) [](https://coveralls.io/github/sindresorhus/normalize-url?branch=master)
> [Normalize](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_normalization) a URL
Useful when you need to display, store, deduplicate, sort, compare, etc, URLs.
## Install
```
$ npm install normalize-url
```
## Usage
```js
const normalizeUrl = require('normalize-url');
normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'
normalizeUrl('HTTP://xn--xample-hva.com:80/?b=bar&a=foo');
//=> 'http://êxample.com/?a=foo&b=bar'
```
## API
### normalizeUrl(url, options?)
#### url
Type: `string`
URL to normalize, including [data URL](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Basics_of_HTTP/Data_URIs).
#### options
Type: `object`
##### defaultProtocol
Type: `string`
Default: `http:`
##### normalizeProtocol
Type: `boolean`
Default: `true`
Prepend `defaultProtocol` to the URL if it's protocol-relative.
```js
normalizeUrl('//sindresorhus.com:80/');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'
normalizeUrl('//sindresorhus.com:80/', {normalizeProtocol: false});
//=> '//sindresorhus.com'
```
##### forceHttp
Type: `boolean`
Default: `false`
Normalize `https:` to `http:`.
```js
normalizeUrl('https://sindresorhus.com:80/');
//=> 'https://sindresorhus.com'
normalizeUrl('https://sindresorhus.com:80/', {forceHttp: true});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'
```
##### forceHttps
Type: `boolean`
Default: `false`
Normalize `http:` to `https:`.
```js
normalizeUrl('https://sindresorhus.com:80/');
//=> 'https://sindresorhus.com'
normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com:80/', {forceHttps: true});
//=> 'https://sindresorhus.com'
```
This option can't be used with the `forceHttp` option at the same time.
##### stripAuthentication
Type: `boolean`
Default: `true`
Strip the [authentication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication) part of the URL.
```js
normalizeUrl('user:password@sindresorhus.com');
//=> 'https://sindresorhus.com'
normalizeUrl('user:password@sindresorhus.com', {stripAuthentication: false});
//=> 'https://user:password@sindresorhus.com'
```
##### stripHash
Type: `boolean`
Default: `false`
Strip the hash part of the URL.
```js
normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact'
normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com/about.html#contact', {stripHash: true});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/about.html'
```
##### stripProtocol
Type: `boolean`
Default: `false`
Remove HTTP(S) protocol from the URL: `http://sindresorhus.com` → `sindresorhus.com`.
```js
normalizeUrl('https://sindresorhus.com');
//=> 'https://sindresorhus.com'
normalizeUrl('sindresorhus.com', {stripProtocol: true});
//=> 'sindresorhus.com'
```
##### stripWWW
Type: `boolean`
Default: `true`
Remove `www.` from the URL.
```js
normalizeUrl('http://www.sindresorhus.com');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'
normalizeUrl('http://www.sindresorhus.com', {stripWWW: false});
//=> 'http://www.sindresorhus.com'
```
##### removeQueryParameters
Type: `Array`
Default: `[/^utm_\w+/i]`
Remove query parameters that matches any of the provided strings or regexes.
```js
normalizeUrl('www.sindresorhus.com?foo=bar&ref=test_ref', {
removeQueryParameters: ['ref']
});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/?foo=bar'
```
##### removeTrailingSlash
Type: `boolean`
Default: `true`
Remove trailing slash.
**Note:** Trailing slash is always removed if the URL doesn't have a pathname.
```js
normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com/redirect/');
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/redirect'
normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com/redirect/', {removeTrailingSlash: false});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/redirect/'
normalizeUrl('http://sindresorhus.com/', {removeTrailingSlash: false});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com'
```
##### removeDirectoryIndex
Type: `boolean | Array`
Default: `false`
Removes the default directory index file from path that matches any of the provided strings or regexes. When `true`, the regex `/^index\.[a-z]+$/` is used.
```js
normalizeUrl('www.sindresorhus.com/foo/default.php', {
removeDirectoryIndex: [/^default\.[a-z]+$/]
});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/foo'
```
##### sortQueryParameters
Type: `boolean`
Default: `true`
Sorts the query parameters alphabetically by key.
```js
normalizeUrl('www.sindresorhus.com?b=two&a=one&c=three', {
sortQueryParameters: false
});
//=> 'http://sindresorhus.com/?b=two&a=one&c=three'
```
## Related
- [compare-urls](https://github.com/sindresorhus/compare-urls) - Compare URLs by first normalizing them
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