URL encoding converts characters into a format that can be transmitted over the Internet. These characters include − ASCII control characters, Non-ASCII control characters, Reserved characters, Unsafe characters. The URL is the address of a web page, like: https://www.astemplates.com
When and why would you use URL encoding?
When data that has been entered into HTML forms is submitted, the form field names and values are encoded and sent to the server in an HTTP request message using method GET or POST,via email. The encoding used by default is based on a very early version of the general URI percent-encoding rules, with a number of modifications such as newline normalization and replacing spaces with “+” instead of “%20“. The MIME type of data encoded this way is
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
, and it is currently defined (still in a very outdated manner) in the HTML and XForms specifications. In addition, the CGI specification contains rules for how web servers decode data of this type and make it available to applications.
When sent in an HTTP GET request, application/x-www-form-urlencoded data is included in the query component of the request URI. When sent in an HTTP POST request or via email, the data is placed in the body of the message, and the name of the media type is included in the message’s Content-Type header.
ASCII characters
The ranges 00-1F hex (0-31 decimal) and 7F (127 decimal)
| Decimal | Hex Value | Character | URL Encode |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 00 | %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 characters
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 | Π| %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
| 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
| 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 |
