About Percent-Encoding Chart
This percent-encoding chart lists the codes of the special characters you meet in URLs, such as %20 for a space and %26 for an ampersand, and marks which of them are reserved. The tool on this page encodes and decodes your own text. It is free, needs no sign-up and runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is uploaded.
Each code is a percent sign followed by the character code in hexadecimal. A space is 32 in decimal and 20 in hexadecimal, so it is %20. An ampersand is 38, hex 26, so it is %26. Letters, digits and - . _ ~ are called unreserved and never need encoding.
Reserved characters are those with a job in the URL: the colon after the scheme, the slashes between path parts, the question mark that starts a query, the ampersand and equals sign inside it, and the hash that starts a fragment. They stay as they are in their normal place and must be encoded only when they are part of a value, for example an ampersand inside a company name in a search term.
Characters outside basic ASCII, such as é, the euro sign or an emoji, are not in the chart because they have no single code. They are turned into UTF-8 bytes first, and each byte gets its own percent code. For example, é is %C3%A9 and the euro sign is %E2%82%AC.
Note that the chart shows the code a character has when it is encoded. Whether the browser functions actually encode it depends on the mode. encodeURIComponent leaves ! * ' ( ) and ~ as they are even though they have codes.
How to use Percent-Encoding Chart
- Choose Encode to percent-encode text, or Decode to turn an encoded string back into text.
- Paste your text or URL into the box. The result appears as you type.
- When encoding, choose Component (encodeURIComponent) for one value, or Full URL (encodeURI) for a whole address that should keep its slashes, question mark and ampersands.
- Tick Space as + if the value goes into an HTML form style query string. When decoding, tick + means space for the same kind of data.
- Read the Query parameters table to see each key and value of a URL decoded.
- Use Show percent-encoding chart to look up the code for a character, then Copy to take the result.
Features
- Encode and decode in one tool, with the result updating as you type.
- Two encoding modes: Component (encodeURIComponent) and Full URL (encodeURI).
- UTF-8 aware, so accented letters, Bangla, Chinese and emoji become the correct multi-byte percent sequences.
- Space as %20 or as +, for forms and for URLs.
- Decode with the option + means space.
- A clear error, Input contains an invalid percent sequence, when something like %G1 or a stray % is found.
- Query parameters table that decodes every key and value of a URL or a bare query string.
- Percent-encoding chart of common special characters, with the reserved ones marked.
- One-click copy of the result.
Percent-encoding chart
| Character | Encoded | Reserved in URLs |
|---|---|---|
| (space) | %20 | No |
| ! | %21 | Yes |
| " | %22 | No |
| # | %23 | Yes |
| $ | %24 | Yes |
| % | %25 | No |
| & | %26 | Yes |
| ' | %27 | Yes |
| ( | %28 | Yes |
| ) | %29 | Yes |
| * | %2A | Yes |
| + | %2B | Yes |
| , | %2C | Yes |
| / | %2F | Yes |
| : | %3A | Yes |
| ; | %3B | Yes |
| < | %3C | No |
| = | %3D | Yes |
| > | %3E | No |
| ? | %3F | Yes |
| @ | %40 | Yes |
| [ | %5B | Yes |
| \ | %5C | No |
| ] | %5D | Yes |
| ^ | %5E | No |
| ` | %60 | No |
| { | %7B | No |
| | | %7C | No |
| } | %7D | No |
| ~ | %7E | No |
Privacy: how it works
- The text and URLs you enter are processed by code in your browser tab. Nothing is sent to Ulkaa or to any other server, which you can confirm in the Network tab of your browser developer tools.
- That is useful because real URLs often carry tokens, email addresses and session identifiers in their query strings. You can inspect and decode them here without sending them anywhere.
Tips
- Decode a URL from a log or an email to see what a tracking link really contains. The Query parameters table lists each key and value.
- Encode the value, not the whole URL, when you build a link by hand with a parameter such as ?next=.
- If decoding fails, look for a bare % that was not meant as an escape, for example in 100% or in a copied sentence. Encode it as %25 first.
- Reserved characters are only a problem inside a value. In their normal place, a ? that starts the query or a & that separates parameters, they must stay as they are.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no price, no trial and no credit card. Ulkaa Tool does the work with your own device, so there is no server bill to pass on to you.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up and no login. Open the page and use it. An Ulkaa account is not needed for anything on this tool.
Does it run in my browser?
Yes. Your text and URLs are processed by code running in your browser tab, on your own device.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Your text and URLs are never sent to Ulkaa or to anyone else. You can check this yourself by watching the Network tab in your browser developer tools while you use the tool.
What is the percent code for a space?
%20. In a form-encoded query string a plus sign (+) can also stand for a space.
What are the reserved characters in a URL?
The reserved characters are : / ? # [ ] @ ! $ & ' ( ) * + , ; =. They separate the parts of a URL, so encode them when they belong to a value.
Do I need to encode letters and numbers?
No. Letters, digits and - . _ ~ are unreserved and can appear anywhere in a URL as they are.
What is the code for the percent sign itself?
%25. It must be encoded when it is data, otherwise a decoder would read it as the start of an escape.
More URL Encoder and Decoder pages
- URL Encoder and DecoderPercent-encode text so it is safe in a URL, or decode an encoded URL back to readable text.
- URL Encoder OnlinePercent-encode a URL or a piece of text so it works as a link.
- URL Decoder OnlineTurn %20, %C3%A9 and other percent codes back into readable text.
- encodeURIComponent OnlineSee exactly what encodeURIComponent returns for any string.