URL Decoder

URL decoding is the process of converting encoded URLs back to their original form. It's essential for understanding and extracting information from URLs, such as query strings or path parameters. URL decoding is also used to interpret HTML form parameters submitted in the application/x-www-form-urlencoded MIME format.

Why is URL Decoding Required?

URLs are limited to a specific set of characters from the US-ASCII character set, including letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers (0-9), and a few symbols (-, _, ~, .). Any character beyond this set is encoded using URL encoding or Percent encoding. URL decoding is necessary to retrieve the actual values from encoded query strings or path parameters.

How Does URL Decoding Work?

URL decoding follows these rules:

• Alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) remain unchanged.
• Safe characters like -, _, ~, and . remain the same.
• Sequences of the form %xy represent bytes, where xy is the two-digit hexadecimal representation of 8 bits. These sequences are replaced with the corresponding character(s).

Common URL Decoding Examples

• Encoded String: %20 → Decoded Character: space
• Encoded String: %25 → Decoded Character: %
• Encoded String: %26 → Decoded Character: &
• Encoded String: %2B → Decoded Character: +
• Encoded String: %2F → Decoded Character: /
• Encoded String: %3D → Decoded Character: =
• Encoded String: %3F → Decoded Character: ?
• Encoded String: %40 → Decoded Character: @

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