# llEscapeURL

*LSL function*

```lsl
string string llEscapeURL(string url);
```

- `string url`: Unescaped URL string to escape.

- Returns: `string`
- Energy: 10

To clarify, numbers and ASCII7 alphabetical characters are NOT escaped. If a character requires more then one byte in [UTF-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8) [byte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte) form then it returns multiple `"%xx"` sequences chained together.

Returns a [string](https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/string) that is the escaped/encoded version of **url**, replacing spaces with `"%20"` etc. The function will escape any character not in `[a-zA-Z0-9]` to `"%xx"` where `"xx"` is the [hexadecimal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal) value of the character in [UTF-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8) [byte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte) form.

```lsl title="How to use" frame="terminal"
string result = llEscapeURL("");
```

## Caveats

The function is not appropriate for escaping a **url** all at once, because the `":"` after the protocol, and all of the `"/"` characters delimiting the various parts, will be escaped. Instead, build the **url** in parts; escaping parts of the path and query string arguments as needed.

Sample URL: [https://sim3015.aditi.lindenlab.com:12043/cap/a7717681-2c04-e4ac-35e3-1f01c9861322/foo/bar?arg=gra](https://sim3015.aditi.lindenlab.com:12043/cap/a7717681-2c04-e4ac-35e3-1f01c9861322/foo/bar?arg=gra)

| URL part | example |
| --- | --- |
| base URL | https://sim3015.aditi.lindenlab.com:12043/cap/a7717681-2c04-e4ac-35e3-1f01c9861322 |
| trailing path | /foo/bar |
| query string past the first "?" in the URL | arg=gra |

## Examples

<details open>
<summary>Example 1</summary>

```lsl collapse={1-7}
string str = "http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL Portal";

default
{
    state_entry()
    {
        llOwnerSay("Plain string:\n\t" + str);
        // output: "http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL Portal"

        llOwnerSay("Escaped string:\n\t" + llEscapeURL(str));
        // output: "http%3A%2F%2Fwiki%2Esecondlife%2Ecom%2Fwiki%2FLSL%20Portal"

        llOwnerSay("Escaped string unescaped again:\n\t" + llUnescapeURL( llEscapeURL(str) ));
        // output: "http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL Portal"

        // because escaping and unescaping are exact opposite
        // and unescaping an escaped string returns the original

        //  For readability's sake it would make more sense to do:
        llOwnerSay("For readability's sake:\n\t" + "http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/" + llEscapeURL("LSL Portal"));
        // output: "http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL%20Portal"
    }
}
```

</details>

## Notes

- The SL viewer pretty prints URLs when converting them to clickable links in chat and dialogs. To confirm that a URL was escaped as intended, right-click the URL and copy, then paste to inspect it in the chat bar; or wrap it between "&lt;nolink>...&lt;/nolink>"; or examine your chat log in an external editor; or display the string with an alternative function like [llSetText](/functions/llSetText/).

## History

- Prior to SL versions 1.19.1.81992, this function was limited to returning a maximum of 254 characters. [SVC-470](https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-470)

## See also

### Functions

- [llUnescapeURL](/functions/llUnescapeURL/)

### Articles

- [UTF-8](https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/UTF-8)
- [Base64](https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:LSL_Base64)

---

*Source: [LlEscapeURL](https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlEscapeURL) on the Second Life Wiki. Content from the Second Life Wiki article LlEscapeURL (revision 1212842, 2022-11-22), CC BY-SA 3.0.*

---

From lsl.dev: https://lsl.dev/functions/llEscapeURL/