HTML Basics
HTML URL Encoding
URLs can only contain a limited set of characters. URL encoding replaces unsafe characters, like spaces, with a safe percent code so links work reliably.
What is URL Encoding?
URL encoding (also called percent-encoding) converts characters that are not allowed in a URL into a percent sign followed by two hexadecimal digits. For example, a space becomes %20.
This is needed because spaces and many symbols would otherwise confuse the browser or server when reading a web address.
Common Encoded Characters
| Character | Encoded as |
|---|---|
| space | %20 |
| ! (exclamation) | %21 |
| # (hash) | %23 |
| & (ampersand) | %26 |
| + (plus) | %2B |
| / (slash) | %2F |
| ? (question mark) | %3F |
| @ (at sign) | %40 |
<a href="https://example.com/my%20great%20page.html">
My great page
</a>💡
You rarely encode by hand. In JavaScript, encodeURIComponent() encodes a value for you, and browsers automatically encode many characters when following links.