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How to URL-encode a string

Learn when and how to percent-encode URL query values with Toolora’s URL Encode tool.

When URL encoding is needed

Spaces, symbols, and many non-ASCII characters must be encoded in query strings. Without encoding, links can break or be interpreted incorrectly by servers and browsers.

Steps

1) Open URL Encode. 2) Paste the value you want to place in a URL — the encoded result updates as you type. There is no Run button. 3) Copy the encoded output into your query parameter. Encode the value, not always the entire URL, unless you intend to escape slashes too.

Decoding

Use URL Decode at /tools/url-decode when you need to convert a percent-encoded value back into readable text. This is helpful when debugging redirects, callbacks, or copied query strings. Plus signs may be spaces in application/x-www-form-urlencoded bodies; a raw %20 is an explicit space. Encode and decode are a pair: /tools/url-encode and /tools/url-decode.

Worked example

The query value “a b&c” encodes with a space and an ampersand escaped so the server sees one parameter. Encoding an entire https://example.com/path?x=1 string will also escape slashes and the question mark — only do that when you are embedding a URL inside another URL. HTML Encode / Decode is for markup entities, not percent-encoding. URL Parser at /tools/url-parser splits host, path, and query without running the link.

Privacy

Strings stay in the browser. Related: /tools/url-parser, /tools/slugify (readable paths, not percent-encoding), /tools/html-encode-decode.