HttpUtility.UrlEncode Method (String) (System.Web)

Microsoft Developer Network

UrlEncode Method (String)

.NET Framework Class Library

HttpUtility..::.UrlEncode Method (String)

Encodes a URL string.

Namespace: System.Web
Assembly: System.Web (in System.Web.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Shared Function UrlEncode ( _
    str As String _
) As String

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim str As String
Dim returnValue As String

returnValue = HttpUtility.UrlEncode(str)

public static string UrlEncode(
    string str
)

Visual C++

public:
static String^ UrlEncode(
    String^ str
)

JScript

public static function UrlEncode(
    str : String
) : String

Parameters

str: Type: System..::.String
The text to encode.

Return Value

Type: System..::.String
An encoded string.

Remarks

If characters such as blanks and punctuation are passed in an HTTP stream, they might be misinterpreted at the receiving end. URL encoding converts characters that are not allowed in a URL into character-entity equivalents; URL decoding reverses the encoding. For example, when embedded in a block of text to be transmitted in a URL, the characters < and > are encoded as %3c and %3e.

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

Reference

Other Resources

How to: Protect Against Script Exploits in a Web Application by Applying HTML Encoding to Strings

Tags

: contentbug (x) encoding (x) Add a tag

Differences from classic ASP Server.URLEncode

Cornan The Iowan | Edit | Show History

While HttpUtility.UrlEncode() is selective, Server.URLEncode() encodes as follows:

Spaces ( ) are converted to plus signs (+).
Non-alphanumeric characters are escaped to their hexadecimal representation.

The following characters are encoded by Server.URLEncode() but not by HttpUtility.UrlEncode():

!, ' (apostrophe), (, ), *, - (dash), . (period) and _ (underscore)

Also, in classic ASP Response.Cookies["cookie_name"] will encode the cookie name such that cookie_name becomes cookie%5Fname.