How to pass an array from a form into a URL with JavaScript?

I have a form which uses a get method. There is a select element in the form that allows the user to select multiple options. This gets passed to the URL when the user clicks submit. However, it does not get neatly presented in the URL at all. Is there a a way to pass the array in a neat way to the URL? (I’m using .pug because I’m using express.)

form(action='/FormHandler' method='get')
label(for='tags') TAGS
select(name='tags[]' multiple='')
    option(value="tag1") tag1
    option(value="tag2") tag2
    option(value="tag3") tag3
input(type='submit' value='submit')

I then want to take apart the URL using the url.parse(request.url, true).query; method in express in NodeJS.

Answer

The request.query property of express gives you the desired array representation in Javascript. If tags 1 and 2 are selected, the resulting request

http://server/formHandler?tags[]=tag1&tags[]=tag2

leads to

request.query = {"tags":["tag1","tag2"]}

There is then probably no need to parse the URL yourself using url.parse.