# URL Encoder Guide

Percent-encode and decode URL components.

- Tool: https://ilham.dev/tools/url-encoder/
- Guide URL: https://ilham.dev/guides/url-encoder/
- Tool guides index: https://ilham.dev/guides/tools/
- Broader guide: Writing and Publishing Text for the Web (https://ilham.dev/guides/writing-for-the-web/)

## What it does

Percent-encode and decode URL components, either the whole string or one component at a time. The distinction matters more than it looks: encoding a full URL turns its own ? and & into data, which is usually not what you want.

## Use the tool

Open https://ilham.dev/tools/url-encoder/, add the input the tool asks for, run it, and check the output before using it elsewhere.

## Input and output

- Input: text.
- Output: text.
- Category: Encoding.

## Privacy and processing
Processing happens locally in your browser. This tool does not upload the input to ilham.dev.

## Questions

### Should I encode the whole URL or just a parameter?

Almost always just the parameter. Use component mode when the value goes inside a query string, and whole-URL mode only when the URL itself is the data being passed along.