PHP URLencode VS RAWURLencode – What Is The Difference!?

Welcome to a quick tutorial on the difference between urlencode and rawurlencode in PHP. So what are these used for, and why are there two different versions of “encode URL”? Which one is correct and which should we use?

That covers the quick basics, but why is this necessary? Can’t we just do a “single universal encode” on both URL path and query string? Read on to find out!

ⓘ I have included a zip file with all the example source code at the start of this tutorial, so you don’t have to copy-paste everything… Or if you just want to dive straight in.

 

 

QUICK SLIDES

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Download & Notes	PHP URL Encode	Useful Bits & Links
The End

 

 

QUICK NOTES

If you spot a bug, feel free to comment below. I try to answer short questions too, but it is one person versus the entire world… If you need answers urgently, please check out my list of websites to get help with programming.

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Click here to download all the example source code, I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

 

 

WHY ARE THERE TWO “URL ENCODE” FUNCTIONS?

Before some of you guys start to blame “PHP is so stupid” – Nope, this has nothing to do with the PHP developers. The problem lies in the history of the confusing cyber world.

• The file path part of the URL works based on RFC 3986 (section 2 if you want the specifics) – We use rawurlencode() to handle that.
• While the query string part of the URL works based on RFC 1866 (section 8.2.1 to be exact) – We use urlencode() to handle that.

 

RAW URL ENCODE EXAMPLE

<?php
// (A) THE FUNKY URL
$url = "http://site.com/my path/my@+%pic.jpg";
 
// (B) BREAK URL INTO PARTS
$parts = parse_url($url);
if (isset($parts["path"])) {
  $parts["path"] = trim($parts["path"], "/");
  $parts["path"] = explode("/", $parts["path"]);
}
 
// (C) COMBINE & ENCODE PATH/FILE ONLY
$encoded = $parts["scheme"] . "://" . $parts["host"];
if (isset($parts["path"])) { foreach ($parts["path"] as $part) {
  $encoded .= "/";
  $encoded .= rawurlencode($part);
}}
 
// (D) THE RESULT
// http://site.com/my%20path/my%40%2B%25pic.jpg
print_r($parts);
echo $encoded;

Why do we have to go through so much trouble to encode the URL? The answer is pretty obvious – If we do rawurlencode("http://site.com/my path/my@+%pic.jpg"), that ends with a funky http%3A%2F%2Fsite.com%2Fmy%20path%2Fmy%40%2B%25pic.jpg. For you guys who want more specifics on what rawurlencode() does:

• All non-alphanumeric characters will be replaced with a percent sign (%), followed by the corresponding hex code.
• Dash, underscore, period, and tilde (-_.~) are exceptions (will not be replaced).
• White spaces will be replaced with %20.

 

 

URL ENCODE EXAMPLE

<?php
// (A) SOME DUMMY DATA TO APPEND
$data = [
  "name" => "John Doe",
  "email" => "john@doe.com"
];
 
// (B) CREATE QUERY STRING USING URLENCODE
$query = "";
foreach ($data as $key=>$value) {
  $query .= urlencode($key) . "=" . urlencode($value) . "&";
}
$query = substr($query, 0, -1); // strip the last &
 
// (C) FULL URL WITH QUERY STRING
// http://site.com/api?name=John+Doe&email=john%40doe.com
$url = "http://site.com/api?$query";
echo $url;

That’s right, notice how we don’t just “encode the entire string”? For you guys who want more specifics on urlencode():

• All non-alphanumeric characters will be replaced with a percent sign (%), followed by the corresponding hex code.
• Dash, underscore, period (-_.) are exceptions and left as they are.
• White spaces will be replaced with the plus (+) sign.

 

 

IS IT REALLY NECESSARY?

Thankfully, most modern browsers are smart enough to do automatic URL encoding. For example, we forgot to encode the file name in <a href="my pic.jpg"/>. Most modern browsers will automatically turn that into my%20pic.jpg.

However, URL encoding is still necessary if you are working with server-to-server (CURL, fetch, sockets, etc…) calls. It’s painful, but that’s just how the Internet works.

 

 

QUICK SUMMARY – RAWURLENCODE VS URLENCODE

	rawurlencode	urlencode
Standard	RFC 3986	RFC 1866
Used For	Encoding URL path and file name.	Encoding query string.
Character Replace	Non-alphanumeric characters are replaced with a percent sign and corresponding hex code.	Non-alphanumeric characters are replaced with a percent sign and corresponding hex code.
Exceptions	Dash, underscore, period, and tilde are not replaced.	Dash, underscore, period are not replaced.
White Spaces	White spaces are replaced with %20.	White spaces are replaced with a plus sign.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• URL Encode – PHP
• URL Encode – PHP

 

 

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