URLs¶
What is a URL?¶
A URL or Uniform Resource Locator comprises a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) with optional resources and/or components. We use URLs to access webpages over HTTP/s.
URL Structure¶
Let’s take the following URL as an example and break it down into its parts:
| COMPONENT | EXAMPLE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Scheme | http:// or https:// | This is used to identify the protocol being accessed by the client, and ends with a colon and a double slash (://) |
| User Info | user:password@ | This is an optional component that contains the credentials (separated by a colon :) used to authenticate to the host, and is separated from the host with an at sign (@) |
| Host | acme.org | The host signifies the resource location. This can be a hostname or an IP address |
| Port | :80 | The Port is separated from the Host by a colon (:). If no port is specified, http schemes default to port 80 and https default to port 443 |
| Path | /dashboard.php | This points to the resource being accessed, which can be a file or a folder. If there is no path specified, the server returns the default index (e.g. index.html). |
| Query String | ?login=true | The query string starts with a question mark (?), and consists of a parameter (e.g. login) and a value (e.g. true). Multiple parameters can be separated by an ampersand (&). |
| Fragments | #status | Fragments are processed by the browsers on the client-side to locate sections within the primary resource (e.g. a header or section on the page). |
Note
The only mandatory components are scheme and host; the rest are optional.
Backlinks¶
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