URL Parser

The URL Parser breaks a full URL into its constituent components so you can inspect exactly how a browser or server will interpret it. It splits the string into scheme (protocol), host, port, path, query string, fragment, and where present the username and password authority section. Seeing these pieces side by side makes it obvious when a link is malformed, points to the wrong host, or carries unexpected parameters.

The parser follows the same model as the WHATWG URL standard that browsers use, so a string like https://user:pass@example.com:8080/path?q=1#section is decomposed into its protocol, credentials, hostname, port, pathname, search, and hash. It also separates the query string into individual key-value pairs, which is the most common reason people parse a URL: to read or audit tracking parameters, UTM tags, and API arguments.

Common use cases include debugging redirects and OAuth callback URLs, auditing analytics and marketing parameters, extracting an API endpoint's path and query from a logged request, and validating that a user-supplied link uses the expected scheme and host. It is especially handy when a long URL has dozens of stacked parameters that are hard to read inline.

A practical tip: query values are often percent-encoded, so pair this with the URL Encoder/Decoder to read them in plain text. Watch for the difference between the path and the fragment, since everything after the # is never sent to the server, and pay attention to the port, which is implied (80 for HTTP, 443 for HTTPS) when omitted.