[jQuery] Re: IE7 does not play nice with $.load

On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 5:00 AM, Nick Fitzsimons <nick@nickfitz.co.uk> wrote:
>
> 2009/10/2 Dave Methvin <dave.methvin@gmail.com>:
>>
>>> Is there some easy way of forcing IE to make ajax
>>> calls?
>>
>> You can use the old trick of adding a random number to the end of the
>> url.
>
> That's what the { cache: false } option does; see jQuery 1.3.2 line
> 3448 onwards:
>
> if ( s.cache === false && type == "GET" ) {
>    var ts = now();
>    // try replacing _= if it is there
>    var ret = s.url.replace(/(\?|&)_=.*?(&|$)/, "$1_=" + ts + "$2");
>    // if nothing was replaced, add timestamp to the end
>    s.url = ret + ((ret == s.url) ? (s.url.match(/\?/) ? "&" : "?") +
> "_=" + ts : "");
> }
>

Could someone please explain to me the significance of "_=" in the URL?