Question

I have a Google Instant style search script written in jQuery. When the user queries, #search/SEARCHTERM/1/ is added onto my page URL. How can I make it so that my URL is without the # at the start?

Here is my current jQuery code:

$(document).ready(function(){
    $("#search").keyup(function(){
        var search=$(this).val();
        var query=encodeURIComponent(search);
        var yt_url='search.php?q='+query+'&category=web';
        window.location.hash='search/'+query+'/1/';
        document.title=$(this).val()+" - My Search Script";
        if(search==''){
            window.location.hash='';
            document.title='My Search Script';
        }
        $.ajax({
            type:"GET",
            url:yt_url,
            dataType:"html",
            success:function(response){
                $("#result").html(response);
            }
        });
    });
});

Answer 1

You cannot remove the hash from hash 🙂 but you can alter the whole url With the pushState() method.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/Manipulating_the_browser_history#The_pushState().c2.a0method

pushState() takes three parameters: a
state object, a title (which is
currently ignored), and (optionally) a
URL.

…

URL — The new history entry’s URL is
given by this parameter. Note that the
browser won’t attempt to load this URL
after a call to pushState(), but it
might attempt to load the URL later,
for instance after the user restarts
her browser. The new URL does not need
to be absolute; if it’s relative, it’s
resolved relative to the current URL.

Note that this won’t work in older browsers and you have to have content behind every url you generate with JS.