Reference Explainer
URL Encoding
URL encoding preserves reserved characters in paths and query strings.
What It Is
- Percent-encoding replaces unsafe bytes with % followed by hexadecimal values.
- Query parameters and path segments have different encoding expectations.
- Use component-level encoding to avoid double-encoding URLs.
Common Pitfalls
- Applying encode/decode twice.
- Encoding a full URL when only one segment should be encoded.
- Misinterpreting '+' handling between forms and URI components.