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UpdatedINTERNET STANDARDIETF streamSTD66

RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax

Still current, but amended. Parts of this document are changed or extended by RFC 7320, RFC 8820. Read both.

In plain English — editorial summary, not part of the RFC

RFC 3986 defines URI syntax — the grammar behind every URL you have ever written. It splits a URI into scheme, authority, path, query and fragment, defines which characters are reserved and how percent-encoding works, and specifies how a relative reference is resolved against a base. When two libraries disagree about escaping or normalising a URL, this is the document that settles it.

Original abstract from the RFC

A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a compact sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource. This specification defines the generic URI syntax and a process for resolving URI references that might be in relative form, along with guidelines and security considerations for the use of URIs on the Internet. The URI syntax defines a grammar that is a superset of all valid URIs, allowing an implementation to parse the common components of a URI reference without knowing the scheme-specific requirements of every possible identifier. This specification does not define a generative grammar for URIs; that task is performed by the individual specifications of each URI scheme. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

Document record

Document ID
RFC3986
Published
January 2005
Authors
T. Berners-Lee; R. Fielding; L. Masinter
Status
INTERNET STANDARD
Stream
IETF
Area
—
Pages
61
Also known as
STD66
Obsoletes:
RFC 1808, RFC 2396, RFC 2732
Updates:
RFC 1738
Updated by:
RFC 7320, RFC 8820

Topics

Standards lineage

This document is one revision in a chain of 4 RFCs, each formally replacing the one before it.

  1. RFC 1808 (1995)
  2. RFC 2396 (1998)
  3. RFC 2732 (1999)
  4. RFC 3986 (2005)

Read the full history of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax →

Referenced by

2 later RFCs formally update or obsolete part of this document.

Related documents

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About this page

The document record above — title, authors, date, status, stream, area, relationships, DOI and errata — is imported verbatim from the public RFC Editor index. The “in plain English” section is editorial: written by The metasystema editorial team, not part of the RFC. Where the two differ, the RFC text governs.

Last checked against the RFC Editor index on . RFCs are never revised after publication; changes are issued as new documents.

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canonical URL: /rfc/3986-uniform-resource-identifier-uri-generic-syntax