HTML Url Encoding

HTML URL Encoding

URL encoding is the practice of translating unprintable characters or characters with special meaning within URLs to a representation that is unambiguous and universally accepted by web browsers and servers. These characters include:

ASCII control characters - Unprintable characters typically used for output control. Character ranges 00-1F hex (0-31 decimal) and 7F (127 decimal). A complete encoding table is given below.
Non-ASCII control characters - These are characters beyond the ASCII character set of 128 characters. This range is part of the ISO-Latin character set and includes the entire "top half" of the ISO-Latin set 80-FF hex (128-255 decimal). A complete encoding table is given below.
Reserved characters - These are special characters such as the dollar sign, ampersand, plus, common, forward slash, colon, semi-colon, equals sign, question mark, and "at" symbol. All of these can have different meanings inside a URL so need to be encoded. A complete encoding table is given below.
Unsafe characters - These are space, quotation marks, less than symbol, greater than symbol, pound character, percent character, Left Curly Brace, Right Curly Brace , Pipe, Backslash, Caret, Tilde, Left Square Bracket , Right Square Bracket, Grave Accent. These character present the possibility of being misunderstood within URLs for various reasons. These characters should also always be encoded. A complete encoding table is given below.
The encoding notation replaces the desired character with three characters: a percent sign and two hexadecimal digits that correspond to the position of the character in the ASCII character set.

Example

One of the most common special characters is a white space. You can't type a space in a URL directly. A space position in the character set is 20 hexadecimal. So you can use %20 in place of a space when passing your request to the server.

http://www.example.com/new%20pricing.htm
This URL actually retrieves a document named "new pricing.htm" from the www.example.com

ASCII control characters encoding

This includes the encoding for character ranges 00-1F hex (0-31 decimal) and 7F (127 decimal)

Decimal
Hex Value
Character
URL Encode
0
00


1
01

%01
2
02

%02
3
03

%03
4
04

%04
5
05

%05
6
06

%06
7
07

%07
8
08
backspace
%08
9
09
tab
%09
10
0a
linefeed
%0a
11
0b

%0b
12
0c

%0c
13
0d
carriage return
%0d
14
0e

%0e
15
0f

%0f
16
10

%10
17
11

%11
18
12

%12
19
13

%13
20
14

%14
21
15

%15
22
16

%16
23
17

%17
24
18

%18
25
19

%19
26
1a

%1a
27
1b

%1b
28
1c

%1c
29
1d

%1d
30
1e

%1e
31
1f

%1f
127
7f

%7f
Non-ASCII control characters encoding

This includes the encoding for the entire "top half" of the ISO-Latin set 80-FF hex (128-255 decimal.)

Decimal
Hex Value
Character
URL Encode
128
80
€
%80
129
81

%81
130
82
‚
%82
131
83
ƒ
%83
132
84
„
%84
133
85
…
%85
134
86
†
%86
135
87
‡
%87
136
88
ˆ
%88
137
89
‰
%89
138
8a
Š
%8a
139
8b
‹
%8b
140
8c
Œ
%8c
141
8d

%8d
142
8e
Ž
%8e
143
8f

%8f
144
90

%90
145
91
‘
%91
146
92
’
%92
147
93
“
%93
148
94
”
%94
149
95
•
%95
150
96
–
%96
151
97
—
%97
152
98
˜
%98
153
99
™
%99
154
9a
š
%9a
155
9b
›
%9b
156
9c
œ
%9c
157
9d

%9d
158
9e
ž
%9e
159
9f
Ÿ
%9f
160
a0

%a0
161
a1
¡
%a1
162
a2
¢
%a2
163
a3
£
%a3
164
a4
¤
%a4
165
a5
¥
%a5
166
a6
¦
%a6
167
a7
§
%a7
168
a8
¨
%a8
169
a9
©
%a9
170
aa
ª
%aa
171
ab
«
%ab
172
ac
¬
%ac
173
ad
%ad
174
ae
®
%ae
175
af
¯
%af
176
b0
°
%b0
177
b1
±
%b1
178
b2
²
%b2
179
b3
³
%b3
180
b4
´
%b4
181
b5
µ
%b5
182
b6
¶
%b6
183
b7
·
%b7
184
b8
¸
%b8
185
b9
¹
%b9
186
ba
º
%ba
187
bb
»
%bb
188
bc
¼
%bc
189
bd
½
%bd
190
be
¾
%be
191
bf
¿
%bf
192
c0
À
%c0
193
c1
Á
%c1
194
c2
Â
%c2
195
c3
Ã
%c3
196
c4
Ä
%c4
197
c5
Å
%c5
198
c6
Æ
%v6
199
c7
Ç
%c7
200
c8
È
%c8
201
c9
É
%c9
202
ca
Ê
%ca
203
cb
Ë
%cb
204
cc
Ì
%cc
205
cd
Í
%cd
206
ce
Î
%ce
207
cf
Ï
%cf
208
d0
Ð
%d0
209
d1
Ñ
%d1
210
d2
Ò
%d2
211
d3
Ó
%d3
212
d4
Ô
%d4
213
d5
Õ
%d5
214
d6
Ö
%d6
215
d7
×
%d7
216
d8
Ø
%d8
217
d9
Ù
%d9
218
da
Ú
%da
219
db
Û
%db
220
dc
Ü
%dc
221
dd
Ý
%dd
222
de
Þ
%de
223
df
ß
%df
224
e0
à
%e0
225
e1
á
%e1
226
e2
â
%e2
227
e3
ã
%e3
228
e4
ä
%e4
229
e5
å
%e5
230
e6
æ
%e6
231
e7
ç
%e7
232
e8
è
%e8
233
e9
é
%e9
234
ea
ê
%ea
235
eb
ë
%eb
236
ec
ì
%ec
237
ed
í
%ed
238
ee
î
%ee
239
ef
ï
%ef
240
f0
ð
%f0
241
f1
ñ
%f1
242
f2
ò
%f2
243
f3
ó
%f3
244
f4
ô
%f4
245
f5
õ
%f5
246
f6
ö
%f6
247
f7
÷
%f7
248
f8
ø
%f8
249
f9
ù
%f9
250
fa
ú
%fa
251
fb
û
%fb
252
fc
ü
%fc
253
fd
ý
%fd
254
fe
þ
%fe
255
ff
ÿ
%ff
Reserved characters encoding

Following is the table to be used to encode reserved characters.

Decimal
Hex Value
Char
URL Encode
36
24
$
%24
38
26
&
%26
43
2b
+
%2b
44
2c
,
%2c
47
2f
/
%2f
58
3a
:
%3a
59
3b
;
%3b
61
3d
=
%3d
63
3f
?
%3f
64
40
@
%40
Unsafe characters encoding

Following is the table to be used to encode unsafe characters.

Decimal
Hex Value
Char
URL Encode
32
20
space
%20
34
22
"
%22
60
3c
<
%3c
62
3e
>
%3e
35
23
#
%23
37
25
%
%25
123
7b
{
%7b
125
7d
}
%7d
124
7c
|
%7c
92
5c
\
%5c
94
5e
^
%5e
126
7e
~
%7e
91
5b
[
%5b
93
5d
]
%5d
96
60
`
%60