URL

Updated: 03/06/2020 by Computer Hope

Also known as a web address, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a form of URI and a standardized
naming convention for addressing documents accessible over the Internet and Intranet. An example of a
URL is https://www.computerhope.com, which is the URL for the Computer Hope website.

• Overview of a URL.

• Where is the URL located?

• How to open an URL.

• What characters are not allowed in a URL?

• Understanding more complex URLs and parameters.

• Is an IP address the same as a URL or web address?

• Related URL pages.

• All Internet-related questions and answers.

Overview of a URL

Below is additional information about each of the sections of the http URL for this page.

http:// or https://

The "http" stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It let's the browser to know which protocol it is going
to use to access the information specified in the domain. An "https" protocol is short for "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol Secure" and indicates that information transmitted over HTTP is encrypted and secure.
After the http or https is the colon ( : ) and two forward slashes ( // ) that separate the protocol from the
remainder of the URL.

Tip

A URL is not explicit to an HTTP or HTTPS addresses; FTP, TFTP, Telnet, and other addresses are also
considered URLs and may not follow the same syntax as our example.

www.

Next, "www" stands for World Wide Web and is used to distinguish the content. This portion of the URL
is not required and many times can be left out. For example, typing "http://computerhope.com" would
still get you to the Computer Hope website. This portion of the address can also be substituted for an
important sub page known as a subdomain.

computerhope.com

Next, "computerhope.com" is the domain name for the website. The last portion of the domain is
known as the domain suffix, or TLD. It is used to identify the type or location of the website. For
example, ".com" is short for commercial, ".org" is short for an organization, and ".co.uk" is the United
Kingdom. There are several domain suffixes available. To get a domain, you would register the name
through a domain registrar.

/jargon/u/

Next, "jargon" and "u" are the directories where the web page is on the server. In this example, the web
page is two directories deep. To find the file on the server, it would be in the /public_html/jargon/u
directory. With most servers, the public_html directory is the default directory containing the HTML
files.

url.htm

Finally, url.htm is the actual web page on the domain you're viewing. The trailing .htm is the file
extension of the web page that indicates the file is an HTML file. Other common file extensions on the
Internet include .html, .php, .asp, .cgi, .xml, .jpg, and .gif. Each of these file extensions performs a
different function, like all the different types of files on your computer.

• See our index.htm definition for additional information about this important file.

Tip

As you may have noticed the protocol, domain, directories, and files are all separated by forward slashes
( / ).

Where is the URL located?

A URL is located at the top of the browser window in the address bar or omnibox depending on your
browser window. On desktop computers and laptop, unless your browser is being displayed in fullscreen
the URL is always visible. In most smartphone and tablet browsers, the address bar containing the URL
will disappear as you scroll down and only show the domain when visible. When the address bar is not
visible, scroll up the page. If only the domain is shown, tapping on the address bar shows the full
address.

Tip

Most video sharing pages, such as YouTube, also have sharing links below the video or in the video.
Using these sharing links is another method you can get the URL of the video.

How to open an URL

You can open a URL by clicking on a hyperlink. For example, if you click on "hyperlink" in this paragraph,
it opens a page describing hyperlinks.

If a URL is in printed material, (e.g., e-mail or magazine) where it's not a hyperlink, you can open the
page by typing the URL in the browser address bar. If the URL is in an e-mail, it can also be copied and
pasted into the address bar.

• How to copy and paste text in a document or another program.

Tip
Some printed material may also have a QR code that can be scanned with your smartphone to open a
web page.

What characters are not allowed in a URL?

Most people realize that a space is not allowed in a URL. However, it is also important to realize, as
documented in RFC 1738, the URL string can only contain alphanumeric characters and the !$-_+*'(),
characters. Any other characters that are needed in the URL must be encoded.

Understanding more complex URLs and parameters

When a URL points to a script that performs additional functions, additional information (parameters) is
added to the end of the URL. For example, a search engine URL pointing to a search results page
includes a parameter with the search query words.

Below is an example URL that points to the Computer Hope search page, with the search query
parameter of "example search".

https://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=example%20search

In this URL, the script file being pointed to is search.cgi in the cgi-bin directory. Because this file ends
with .cgi, it is assumed to be a Perl script.

After the script file name is a ? (question mark). The question mark in a URL separates the URL from all
the parameters or variables being sent to the script. In the example above, the parameter being sent is
q=example%20search. The "q" is a variable name, and the "example%20search" is the value being sent
to that variable. Because no spaces are allowed in a URL, the space is encoded as %20. In many scripts, a
+ (plus) is also used to represent a space.

In our example, because there is a variable the script would use it as it is executed. Scripts are also not
limited to only one variable. If the script needs multiple variables, each variable can be separated with a
& (ampersand), as shown in the example below.

https://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=example%20search&example=test

In the above example, there are two different variables. The "q" variable equals "example search" and
the "example" variable equals "test". If the script was looking for an example variable, it could be
processed and perform an additional feature.

Is an IP address the same as a URL or web address?

No. An IP address is a unique number that's assigned to each device on a network. On the World Wide
Web, a domain name is assigned a unique IP address. When typed (e.g., computerhope.com), DNS
translates the domain name into an IP address that routers use to find the web server. A domain name
is used instead of an IP address because it's easier for humans to remember. For example, it's easier to
remember "computerhope.com" than it is to remember an IP address like "216.58.216.164". See our IP
address for further information about an IP.

Tip
You could think of a domain name like a picture of a house and the IP address as the house's address.
The picture gives you a representation of what the house looks like but without the address you'd never
be able to locate that house.

Related URL pages

• Does capitalization and spaces matter in Internet addresses?

• How to create small easy to read URL.

• How to copy a web page link or URL.

• Tip to automatically complete a URL.

• All Internet-related questions and answers.