urlencode

The urlencode operation encodes the input value into a URL-safe format. It converts special characters (spaces, diacritics, symbols) into percent-encoded sequences (%xx) so that the result can safely be transmitted as part of a URL or query string.

How it works

• Input – any string.
• Output – the URL-encoded representation of the string.
• Encoding rules:
  • Spaces are converted to +.
  • Non-alphanumeric characters are replaced with % followed by two hex digits.
  • Letters, numbers, and – _ . ~ remain unchanged.

Examples

Usage in PalDock

Use urlencode when you need to:

• Safely include values in query parameters of URLs.
• Normalize input before building redirect links.
• Prevent issues when passing special characters (&, @, +, spaces) to external APIs.
• Encode user-generated content (names, messages) for reliable transmission.

Best Practices

• Always apply urlencode when concatenating values into URLs.
• Use together with urldecode for round-trip transformations.
• Validate input if you expect only safe characters; unnecessary encoding may reduce readability.
• Remember that spaces become +. If the receiving system requires %20 instead, consider rawurlencode instead of urlencode.

References

• PHP Manual: urlencode
• RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax