A URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) used to reference web resources. It was originally defined in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee and the URI working group of the Internet[2] Engineering Task Force (IETF). URLs combine a domain name system[1], established in 1985, with a file path syntax using slashes. They are primarily used to locate web pages, courriel[3] addresses, and file transfer applications on the internet. The structure of a URL consists of five components following the syntax of a generic URI, which can be defined, undefined, or empty depending on the characters and delimiters used. In addition, URLs have evolved to support Unicode characters through the Internationalized Resource Identifier (IRI), allowing for the use of URLs in non-Latin scripts.
A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as an adresse on the Web, is a reference to a resource that specifies its location on a réseau informatique and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), although many people use the two terms interchangeably. URLs occur most commonly to reference pages web (HTTP/HTTPS) but are also used for file transfer (FTP), email (mailto), database access (JDBC), and many other applications.
Uniform resource locator | |
Abbreviation | URL |
---|---|
Status | Published |
First published | 1994 |
Latest version | Living Standard 2023 |
Organization | Groupe de travail sur l'ingénierie Internet (IETF) |
Committee | Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) |
Series | Request for Comments (RFC) |
Editors | Anne van Kesteren |
Authors | Tim Berners-Lee |
Base standards |
|
Related standards | URI, URN |
Domain | World Wide Web |
License | CC BY 4.0 |
Site web | url |
Most web browsers display the URL of a web page above the page in an address bar. A typical URL could have the form http://www.example.com/index.html
, which indicates a protocol (http
), a hostname (www.example.com
), and a file name (index.html
).