HTML URL Encoding Tutorial with Examples

Information can be sent from the browser to the server via a URL, which appears in the query-string part of the URL, for example:

http://example.com/somepage?searchText=abc&maxResults=10

The URL above transmits two pieces of information to the server:

1. searchText=abc
2. maxResults=10

But the problem is that you didn't mean so. What you really want is just convey the searchText ​​​​​​​content with the value of:

1. searchText=abc&maxResults=10

Some characters such as (& = / ...) are special ones of the URL that you can see them in the QueryString. If you want the browser to understand those characters in the usual sense, you must encode them. The encoding rules are understood by browsers and servers; therefore, when the server receives an encoded URL, the server can decode it to get the initial values.

Character	Encode
&	%26
=	%3d

http://example.com/somepage?searchText=abc%26maxResults%3D10

In addition to the special characters (& = / ...), there are many other characters, unprintable characters, for example, which need to be encoded so that they can be transmitted on the URL. The list below shows special characters and their URL Encoding.

Every character you see on the keyboard has a code. For example, 97 is the number of the letter 'a', 65 is the number of the letter 'A', etc. They are ordinary characters. However, there are other things on the keyboard that you sometimes do not think they are characters, such as SHIFT, TAB, ESC, ENTER and so on. In fact, these are unprintable characters.

The ASCII Table includes characters with the numbers ranging from 0 to 127, most of which are ordinary characters, the rest are ASCII control characters. They consist of characters with the numbers in the range [0-31] and the character number 127.

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

Characters with the numbers from 128 to 255 are called Non-ASCII control characters.

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

The URL Encoding table shows printable reserved characters that you see on the keyboard.

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

The URL Encoding table lists down the printable unsafe characters that you see on the keyboard.

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