barb28 wrote:
Hello, sometimes I have noticed that
in web addresses, the number:
20%
will show up in the address. I think this is
somehow related to a 'blank space', but am
unsure, does anyone know about this?
Not "20%", but "%20" I think you'll find. Yes it represents a space
character.
A percent sign followed by a two-digit hexadecimal number (a hexadecimal
digit is a number 0-9 or a letter A-F) can be used to encode various
characters.
Look at the "Hx" and "Char" columns in the first table here:
http://www.asciitable.com/
Notice that the "Hx" code for the character "Space" is "20". So that means
that a space in a website address can be encoded as "%20". Similarly the
code for an "o" is "%6F", so you can do a link to Google like this:
http://www.g%6F%6Fgle.c%6Fm/
With an "o" character, swapping "o" for "%6F" is silly as it makes the
address less readable. But with a space character, swapping for "%20" is
needed because website addresses aren't allowed to contain a real space
character (because otherwise it would be difficult to tell where they
begin and end!)
--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact 
