How to Encode URLs in JavaScript

URLs, standing for Uniform Resource Locators, are a way to identify a resource on the web.

You use URLs to visit websites, point to specific files, and to give names to IP addresses.

The web supports sending data via URLs by encoding it in the URL.

In this post, we'll learn how to encode URLs in JavaScript.

How to Encode URLs in JavaScript

The main point of encoding URLs is to make sure that the characters in the URL are safe to use.

This means that any characters that are unsafe must be escaped.

Thankfully, JavaScript offers built-in methods to encode URLs.

The first method, encodeURI, takes an existing URL and encodes it safely.

JAVASCRIPT
const unsafeUrl = "https://www.google.com/search?q=javascript encodeURI";
const safeUrl = encodeURI(unsafeUrl);

console.log(safeUrl);

BASH
https://www.google.com/search?q=javascript%20encodeURI

The encodeURI method encoded the space in the URL as %20, which made the entire URL safe.

If you want to encode query parameters, you can use the encodeURIComponent method.

JAVASCRIPT
const unsafeParameters = "javascript encodeURI";
const safeUrl = "https://www.google.com/search?q=" + encodeURIComponent(unsafeParameters);

console.log(safeUrl);

BASH
https://www.google.com/search?q=javascript%20encodeURI

Either way, the encodeURI and encodeURIComponent methods both help accomplish the same task, turning unsafe characters into safe ones, thereby encoding the URL.

Conclusion

In this post, we learned how to encode URLs in JavaScript.

Simply use either the encodeURI or encodeURIComponent methods to encode a string safely.

Thanks for reading and happy coding!

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