URL encode and decode
Percent-encode text for URLs and query strings, or decode it back.
Component vs full URL
- Component (
encodeURIComponent) encodes everything except letters, digits and- _ . ! ~ * ' ( ). Use it for a single query value or path segment. - Full URL (
encodeURI) leaves characters that structure a URL, like: / ? # & =, alone. Use it for a whole address that contains spaces or non-English characters.
Spaces: %20 or +?
In URLs, a space is %20. In HTML form data (application/x-www-form-urlencoded), a space is sent as +. When decoding, tick Treat + as space for form-style data.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you paste is uploaded, logged or stored on a server, so it's safe to use with private data.
Questions
What does %20 mean?
It's a percent-encoded space: 20 is the hexadecimal code for the space character.
Why is my URL encoded twice?
Encoding an already-encoded string turns % into %25, so %20 becomes %2520. Decode once to fix it.