ODOnlineDefinition

URI encoding

Noun
DefinitionURI encoding, also widely known as percent-encoding or URL encoding, is a standardized mechanism used to translate characters into a format universally permitted within a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). This process primarily converts characters that are reserved (like '/', '?', '&'), have special meaning, or are outside the standard ASCII character set, into a sequence of a percent sign '%' followed by two hexadecimal digits. It ensures that URIs remain syntactically valid and unambiguous when transmitted or processed across various systems on the internet. For example, a space character is encoded as '%20' and an ampersand '&' becomes '%26'. This encoding is critical for correctly constructing web addresses, specifying query parameters, and submitting data in web forms.
Example

"To prevent errors when passing parameters with special characters, the application performed URI encoding on the search query before appending it to the URL."

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Etymology & Word Origins

Derived from 'URI' (Uniform Resource Identifier), a foundational internet standard, and 'encoding', referring to the process of converting data into a specified format.

Translations
SpanishCodificación URI
FrenchEncodage URI
GermanURI-Kodierung