URL encoder/decoder: questions and guides
Each guide here answers one question with a practical example, then takes you to the tool to try it yourself. Guides: 9.
Questions
- How URL encoding and decoding workWhat the codes starting with % in links mean, why each Arabic letter becomes two of them, and when to encode a whole URL or just one part of it.
- I got a long ad link full of codes after the question mark. How can I read the parameters inside it one by one?Paste an ad link into the URL encoder to see a table of its parts: host, path and every parameter after the ?, decoded, including Arabic campaign names.
- Decoding a text that contains '50% off' gives an error about the % sign. How should a percentage be written in a link?A bare % is invalid in encoded text, because every % must be followed by two hex digits. Why decoding fails, and how to put a discount percentage in a link.
- When encoding a search phrase, should the space become + or %20?%20 is correct anywhere in a URL, while + means a space only inside form-style query values. When to use each, and how to set the option in the encoder.
- I put a product link with ?id=5&c=red inside a WhatsApp message link, and it gets cut at the &. How do I encode it?The & in your product link looks to a wa.me link like the start of a new parameter, so everything after it is lost. Encode the link in Component mode first.
- My product link shows %25D9 instead of Arabic letters and opens an error page. How do I get it back to the right form?%25 is an encoded % sign, so %25D9 means the link was encoded twice. How to recognise double encoding and repair it by decoding one step at a time.
- A message has a link that starts with a well-known platform name but is long and encoded. How can I tell which site it really opens?Paste a suspicious link into the URL encoder without opening it. The parts table shows the real host, and warns when a familiar name before @ is not the site.
- My store uses an Arabic domain name. Why does the link parts table show the host as letters starting with xn--?Arabic domain names travel as Punycode, which starts with xn--, while the path after them uses % codes. Two mechanisms for two parts of one link, with a real example.
- I want a 'Contact us' button that opens a new email with a ready subject. How do I write the mailto link correctly?A mailto link carries the subject and body as query values, so encode each value on its own in Component mode. A real example with a colon, digits and Arabic.