Can you explain what is meant by query parameters in the context of web requests?

Query parameters are part of a URL used to pass additional data to the server in web requests. They come after the question mark (?) in the URL and have the format key=value. Multiple parameters are separated by an ampersand (&).

For example, in the URL https://example.com/search?query=python&sort=asc:

• query=python — a parameter with the key query and the value python
• sort=asc — a parameter with the key sort and the value asc

Query parameters can be used to filter, sort, or pass other request settings without changing the main URL path.