Q870 How can I pass a querystring parameter from a link to a function on the linked page?

<script language="JavaScript"><!--
var variableName = 'Hello world';
//--></script>

<a href="newpage.html" onClick="this.href='newpage.html?' + variableName">Linked page</a>

<script language="JavaScript"><!--
var variableName = null;

if (location.search.length > 0)
    variableName = location.search.substring(1);

function functionName(text) {
    alert(text);
}

functionName(variableName);
//--></script>