rawurlencode

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

URL-encode according to RFC 3986

string rawurlencode ( string $str )

Encodes the given string according to » RFC 3986.

Parameters:

str

The URL to be encoded.

Returns:

Returns a string in which all non-alphanumeric characters except -_.~ have been replaced with a percent (%) sign followed by two hex digits. This is the encoding described in » RFC 3986 for protecting literal characters from being interpreted as special URL delimiters, and for protecting URLs from being mangled by transmission media with character conversions (like some email systems).

Note:

Prior to PHP 5.3.0, rawurlencode encoded tildes (~) as per » RFC 1738.

Changelog:

5.3.4

Tilde characters are no longer encoded when rawurlencode() is used with EBCDIC strings.

5.3.0

Now conforms to » RFC 3986.

Examples:

including a password in an FTP URL

<?php
echo '<a href="ftp://user:', rawurlencode('foo @+%/'),
     '@ftp.example.com/x.txt">';
?>

The above example will output:

<a href="ftp://user:foo%20%40%2B%25%2F@ftp.example.com/x.txt">

rawurlencode() example 2

Or, if you pass information in a PATH_INFO component of the URL:

<?php
echo '<a href="http://example.com/department_list_script/',
    rawurlencode('sales and marketing/Miami'), '">';
?>

The above example will output:

<a href="http://example.com/department_list_script/sales%20and%20marketing%2FMiami">