Complete URL Encoding Character Reference
When dealing with APIs, web scraping, or frontend routing, having a handy reference for percent-encoded characters is essential. This guide provides a comprehensive list of how common symbols and reserved characters are encoded in a URL.
Reserved Characters
These characters have special structural meaning in a URL (like separating the host from the path, or defining query parameters). If you want to use them as actual data values, they must be encoded using encodeURIComponent.
| Character | Encoded | Role in URL |
|---|---|---|
! | %21 | Punctuation |
# | %23 | Fragment identifier |
$ | %24 | Reserved |
& | %26 | Query parameter separator |
' | %27 | Punctuation |
+ | %2B | Often represents a space |
, | %2C | Reserved |
/ | %2F | Path separator |
: | %3A | Protocol/Port separator |
; | %3B | Reserved |
= | %3D | Query key/value separator |
? | %3F | Query string identifier |
@ | %40 | Authentication separator |
Unsafe Characters
These characters are not reserved for structural use, but they are deemed "unsafe" because they can be misinterpreted by various gateways, email clients, or older browsers. They should always be encoded.
| Character | Encoded | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Space | %20 | Breaks URL in HTTP headers |
" | %22 | Breaks HTML attributes |
< | %3C | Breaks HTML/XML |
> | %3E | Breaks HTML/XML |
[ | %5B | Unsafe |
\ | %5C | Unsafe |
] | %5D | Unsafe |
^ | %5E | Unsafe |
` | %60 | Unsafe |
{ | %7B | Unsafe |
| | %7C | Unsafe |
} | %7D | Unsafe |
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