## URL String Escaper: Encode Special Characters Online This **URL string escaper** helps you instantly encode URLs and escape special characters for safe web transmission. Simply paste your URL containing spaces, special characters, or Unicode symbols, and get a properly encoded URL that works across all browsers and servers. Essential for web developers, API integration, and anyone working with URLs containing non-ASCII characters. ### Why Use a URL Encoder? URLs can only contain specific ASCII characters. When your URL includes spaces, foreign language characters (like é, ü, 中), or special symbols, they must be **URL encoded** (percent-encoded) to prevent errors. This tool automatically converts unsafe characters into `%XX` format, ensuring your URLs work reliably in: - API requests and query parameters - Web forms and search functionality - Internationalized URLs with Unicode characters - Database queries and file paths - Email links and social media sharing ### What is URL Encoding? **URL encoding** (also called percent-encoding) is the standard method for representing special characters in URLs. It converts characters into a format that can be transmitted over the Internet without corruption or misinterpretation. Each special character is replaced with `%` followed by two hexadecimal digits representing the character's code. For example: A space `' '` becomes `%20`, and `'é'` becomes `%C3%A9`. ### How to Use This URL Escaper Tool 1. **Paste Your URL:** Enter or paste the URL string you want to encode in the input field 2. **Automatic Encoding:** The tool instantly escapes all special characters using percent-encoding 3. **Copy Result:** Click the copy button to use your encoded URL in applications, APIs, or browsers 4. **Visual Feedback:** See which characters were escaped with color-coded highlighting ### Understanding URL Encoding Characters According to the RFC 3986 specification, certain characters must be **percent-encoded** in URLs: **Reserved Characters (General delimiters):** - `:` `/` `?` `#` `[` `]` `@` **Reserved Characters (Sub-delimiters):** - `!` `$` `&` `'` `(` `)` `*` `+` `,` `;` `=` **Always Encode:** - Spaces and non-ASCII characters (Unicode, accented letters, emoji) - Control characters and unprintable characters **Safe Characters (Never Encoded):** - Letters: `A-Z`, `a-z` - Numbers: `0-9` - Unreserved: `-` `.` `_` `~` ### How Does URL Encoding Work? #### The Encoding Process 1. **Identify Special Characters:** Parse the URL string and identify characters that are not unreserved ASCII characters (letters, digits, `-`, `.`, `_`, `~`). 2. **Convert to ASCII Code:** For each special character, obtain its ASCII or Unicode code point. 3. **Convert to UTF-8 Byte Sequence (if necessary):** For non-ASCII characters, encode the character into one or more bytes using UTF-8 encoding. 4. **Convert to Hexadecimal:** Convert each byte to its two-digit hexadecimal equivalent. 5. **Prefix with Percent Symbol:** Precede each hexadecimal byte with a `%` sign. #### Example Encoding - Character: `' '` (Space) - ASCII Code: `32` - Hexadecimal: `20` - URL Encoded: `%20` - Character: `'é'` - UTF-8 Encoding: `0xC3 0xA9` - URL Encoded: `%C3%A9` #### Edge Cases to Consider - **Unicode Characters:** Non-ASCII characters must be encoded in UTF-8 and then percent-encoded. - **Already Encoded Percent Signs:** Percent signs that are part of percent-encodings must not be re-encoded. - **Reserved Characters in Query Strings:** Certain characters have special meanings in query strings and should be encoded to prevent altering the structure. ### URL Decoding #### What is URL Decoding? URL decoding is the reverse process of URL encoding. It converts percent-encoded characters back to their original form, making the URL readable and interpretable by humans and systems. #### Decoding Process 1. **Identify Percent-Encoding Sequences:** Locate all `%` symbols followed by two hexadecimal digits in the URL string. 2. **Convert Hexadecimal to Bytes:** Translate each hexadecimal value to its corresponding byte. 3. **Decode UTF-8 Bytes (if necessary):** For multi-byte sequences, combine the bytes and decode them using UTF-8 encoding to obtain the original character. 4. **Replace Encoded Sequences:** Substitute the percent-encoded sequences with the decoded characters. #### Example Decoding - Encoded: `hello%20world` - `%20` translates to a space `' '` - Decoded: `hello world` - Encoded: `J%C3%BCrgen` - `%C3%A4` translates to `'ü'` in UTF-8 - Decoded: `Jürgen` #### Importance of URL Decoding URL decoding is essential when processing user input from URLs, reading query parameters, or interpreting data received from web requests. It ensures that the information extracted from a URL is in its proper, intended form. ### Common URL Encoding Use Cases #### Web Development and APIs - **Search Query Parameters:** Encode user search terms like `"shoes & bags"` → `shoes%20%26%20bags` - **API Authentication:** Safely pass credentials and tokens in URL parameters - **Dynamic URL Generation:** Create links with user-generated content - **RESTful API Endpoints:** Encode resource identifiers with special characters #### International and Multilingual URLs - **Foreign Language Content:** Handle URLs with Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic, or accented characters - **E-commerce Product URLs:** Encode product names with special characters - **Multilingual SEO:** Create search-engine-friendly URLs in any language #### Data Integration and Security - **Form Submissions:** Properly encode form data in GET requests - **Prevent Injection Attacks:** Escape user input to prevent XSS and SQL injection - **Email Marketing:** Create trackable links with encoded campaign parameters - **Social Media Sharing:** Generate shareable links with encoded titles and descriptions ### URL Encoding vs Other Encoding Methods | Method | Use Case | Example | |--------|----------|---------| | **URL Encoding** | Query strings, path parameters | `hello world` → `hello%20world` | | **Base64 Encoding** | Binary data, authentication tokens | `hello` → `aGVsbG8=` | | **HTML Entity Encoding** | Displaying special chars in HTML | `

URL Encoder: Escape Special Characters in URLs Online Free

URL String Escaper

Documentation