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URL: Uniform Resource Locator

URLs identify object locations on a network

By Bradley Mitchell Bradley Mitchell Writer Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Illinois An MIT graduate who brings years of technical experience to articles on SEO, computers, and wireless networking. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on September 11, 2020 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Around the Web Browsers Cloud Services Error Messages Family Tech Home Networking 5G Antivirus Around the Web A Uniform Resource Locator identifies a specific resource, service, or object on a network. URL strings consist of three parts: The protocol designation, the hostname or address, and the resource location. KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images

URL Protocol Substrings

The URL substrings are separated by special characters as follows: protocol :// host / location
The protocol substring defines a network protocol for accessing a resource. These strings are short names followed by the three characters ://. Typical URL protocols include HTTP (http://), FTP (ftp://), and email (mailto://).

URL Host Substrings

The host substring identifies a destination computer or other network device. Hosts source from standard internet databases such as DNS and can be names or IP addresses. The hostnames of many websites refer not only to a single computer but rather to groups of servers.

URL Location Substrings

The location substring contains a path to one specific network resource on a host. Resources are normally located in a host directory or folder. For example, a website may have a resource like /2016/September/word-of-the-day-04.htm to organize content by dates. When the location element is an empty shortcut, as in the URL http://example.com, the URL conventionally points to the root directory of the host (denoted by a single forward slash) and often a home page (like index.htm).

Absolute and Relative URLs

Full URLs featuring all three of the substrings are called absolute URLs. In some cases, URLs may specify only the one location element. These are called relative URLs. Relative URLs are used by web servers to avoid hard-coding location elements that may be subject to change. Following the above example, web pages on the same server that link to it can code a relative URL as: It uses the relative URL instead of the equivalent absolute URL: This takes advantage of the server's assumption of the missing protocol and host information. Relative URLs only work when the host and protocol information is established.

URL Shortening

Standard URLs on modern sites tend to be long strings of text. Because sharing long URLs on Twitter and other social media sites is cumbersome, several companies built online translators that convert a full (absolute) URL into a shorter URL specifically for use on their social networks. Popular URL shorteners of this kind include t.co (used with Twitter) and lnkd.in (used with LinkedIn). Other URL shortening services like bit.ly and goo.gl work across the internet and not only with specific social media sites. In addition to offering an easier way to share links with others, some URL shortening services offer click statistics. A few also safeguard against malicious uses by checking the URL location against lists of suspicious domains. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire What Is a URL (Uniform Resource Locator)? How to Use the Netstat Command on Mac What Is a Web Browser? How to Insert a Link in an Email With Mac OS X Mail Definition of FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) How Web Browsers and Web Servers Communicate What Are the Types of System Resources in a Computer? What Is an IP Address? What Is a Hostname? (Host Name Definition) DNS Servers: What Are They and Why Are They Used? How to Fix a 404 Page Not Found Error Top 20 Internet Terms for Beginners The Difference Between Absolute and Relative File Paths 9 Best Free Firewall Programs (Updated October 2022) How to Fix the 400 Bad Request Error How to Use URL Shorteners With Permanent Redirects Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies