HTTP URL Address Encoding in Java

Question

My Java standalone application gets a URL (which points to a file) from the user and I need to hit it and download it. The problem I am facing is that I am not able to encode the HTTP URL address properly...

Example:

URL:  http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/first book.pdf

java.net.URLEncoder.encode(url.toString(), "ISO-8859-1");

returns me:

http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.barnesandnoble.com%2Fbooksearch%2Ffirst+book.pdf

But, what I want is

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/first%20book.pdf

(space replaced by %20)

I guess URLEncoder is not designed to encode HTTP URLs... The JavaDoc says "Utility class for HTML form encoding"... Is there any other way to do this?

Answer 1

Maybe can try UriUtils in org.springframework.web.util

UriUtils.encodeUri(input, "UTF-8")

Answer 2

String url=""http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/;

This will be constant i guess and only filename changes dyamically so get filename

String filename; // get the file name

String urlEnc=url+fileName.replace(" ","%20");

Answer 3

If anybody doesn't want to add a dependency to their project, these functions may be helpful.

We pass the 'path' part of our URL into here. You probably don't want to pass the full URL in as a parameter (query strings need different escapes, etc).

/**
 * Percent-encodes a string so it's suitable for use in a URL Path (not a query string / form encode, which uses + for spaces, etc)
 */
public static String percentEncode(String encodeMe) {
    if (encodeMe == null) {
        return "";
    }
    String encoded = encodeMe.replace("%", "%25");
    encoded = encoded.replace(" ", "%20");
    encoded = encoded.replace("!", "%21");
    encoded = encoded.replace("#", "%23");
    encoded = encoded.replace("$", "%24");
    encoded = encoded.replace("&", "%26");
    encoded = encoded.replace("'", "%27");
    encoded = encoded.replace("(", "%28");
    encoded = encoded.replace(")", "%29");
    encoded = encoded.replace("*", "%2A");
    encoded = encoded.replace("+", "%2B");
    encoded = encoded.replace(",", "%2C");
    encoded = encoded.replace("/", "%2F");
    encoded = encoded.replace(":", "%3A");
    encoded = encoded.replace(";", "%3B");
    encoded = encoded.replace("=", "%3D");
    encoded = encoded.replace("?", "%3F");
    encoded = encoded.replace("@", "%40");
    encoded = encoded.replace("[", "%5B");
    encoded = encoded.replace("]", "%5D");
    return encoded;
}

/**
 * Percent-decodes a string, such as used in a URL Path (not a query string / form encode, which uses + for spaces, etc)
 */
public static String percentDecode(String encodeMe) {
    if (encodeMe == null) {
        return "";
    }
    String decoded = encodeMe.replace("%21", "!");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%20", " ");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%23", "#");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%24", "$");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%26", "&");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%27", "'");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%28", "(");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%29", ")");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%2A", "*");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%2B", "+");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%2C", ",");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%2F", "/");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%3A", ":");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%3B", ";");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%3D", "=");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%3F", "?");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%40", "@");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%5B", "[");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%5D", "]");
    decoded = decoded.replace("%25", "%");
    return decoded;
}

And tests:

@Test
public void testPercentEncode_Decode() {
    assertEquals("", percentDecode(percentEncode(null)));
    assertEquals("", percentDecode(percentEncode("")));

    assertEquals("!", percentDecode(percentEncode("!")));
    assertEquals("#", percentDecode(percentEncode("#")));
    assertEquals("$", percentDecode(percentEncode("$")));
    assertEquals("@", percentDecode(percentEncode("@")));
    assertEquals("&", percentDecode(percentEncode("&")));
    assertEquals("'", percentDecode(percentEncode("'")));
    assertEquals("(", percentDecode(percentEncode("(")));
    assertEquals(")", percentDecode(percentEncode(")")));
    assertEquals("*", percentDecode(percentEncode("*")));
    assertEquals("+", percentDecode(percentEncode("+")));
    assertEquals(",", percentDecode(percentEncode(",")));
    assertEquals("/", percentDecode(percentEncode("/")));
    assertEquals(":", percentDecode(percentEncode(":")));
    assertEquals(";", percentDecode(percentEncode(";")));

    assertEquals("=", percentDecode(percentEncode("=")));
    assertEquals("?", percentDecode(percentEncode("?")));
    assertEquals("@", percentDecode(percentEncode("@")));
    assertEquals("[", percentDecode(percentEncode("[")));
    assertEquals("]", percentDecode(percentEncode("]")));
    assertEquals(" ", percentDecode(percentEncode(" ")));

    // Get a little complex
    assertEquals("[]]", percentDecode(percentEncode("[]]")));
    assertEquals("a=d%*", percentDecode(percentEncode("a=d%*")));
    assertEquals(")  (", percentDecode(percentEncode(")  (")));
    assertEquals("%21%20%2A%20%27%20%28%20%25%20%29%20%3B%20%3A%20%40%20%26%20%3D%20%2B%20%24%20%2C%20%2F%20%3F%20%23%20%5B%20%5D%20%25",
                    percentEncode("! * ' ( % ) ; : @ & = + $ , / ? # [ ] %"));
    assertEquals("! * ' ( % ) ; : @ & = + $ , / ? # [ ] %", percentDecode(
                    "%21%20%2A%20%27%20%28%20%25%20%29%20%3B%20%3A%20%40%20%26%20%3D%20%2B%20%24%20%2C%20%2F%20%3F%20%23%20%5B%20%5D%20%25"));

    assertEquals("%23456", percentDecode(percentEncode("%23456")));

}

Answer 4

You can also use GUAVA and path escaper: UrlEscapers.urlFragmentEscaper().escape(relativePath)

Answer 5

You can use a function like this. Complete and modify it to your need :

/**
     * Encode URL (except :, /, ?, &, =, ... characters)
     * @param url to encode
     * @param encodingCharset url encoding charset
     * @return encoded URL
     * @throws UnsupportedEncodingException
     */
    public static String encodeUrl (String url, String encodingCharset) throws UnsupportedEncodingException{
            return new URLCodec().encode(url, encodingCharset).replace("%3A", ":").replace("%2F", "/").replace("%3F", "?").replace("%3D", "=").replace("%26", "&");
    }

Example of use :

String urlToEncode = ""http://www.growup.com/folder/intérieur-à_vendre?o=4";
Utils.encodeUrl (urlToEncode , "UTF-8")

The result is : http://www.growup.com/folder/int%C3%A9rieur-%C3%A0_vendre?o=4

Answer 6

Please be warned that most of the answers above are INCORRECT.

The URLEncoder class, despite is name, is NOT what needs to be here. It's unfortunate that Sun named this class so annoyingly. URLEncoder is meant for passing data as parameters, not for encoding the URL itself.

In other words, "http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/first book.pdf" is the URL. Parameters would be, for example, "http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/first book.pdf?parameter1=this&param2=that". The parameters are what you would use URLEncoder for.

The following two examples highlights the differences between the two.

The following produces the wrong parameters, according to the HTTP standard. Note the ampersand (&) and plus (+) are encoded incorrectly.

uri = new URI("http", null, "www.google.com", 80, 
"/help/me/book name+me/", "MY CRZY QUERY! +&+ :)", null);

// URI: http://www.google.com:80/help/me/book%20name+me/?MY%20CRZY%20QUERY!%20+&+%20:)

The following will produce the correct parameters, with the query properly encoded. Note the spaces, ampersands, and plus marks.

uri = new URI("http", null, "www.google.com", 80, "/help/me/book name+me/", URLEncoder.encode("MY CRZY QUERY! +&+ :)", "UTF-8"), null);

// URI: http://www.google.com:80/help/me/book%20name+me/?MY+CRZY+QUERY%2521+%252B%2526%252B+%253A%2529