# URL

> The full address of something on the web: protocol, site and path.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: Networks
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/url/
- In Spanish: [URL](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/url/)

A **URL** (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of one specific thing on the web: a page, an image, a video, an API endpoint. It is what you type in the address bar or share in a chat. `https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate?lang=es#historia` is one URL, and every piece of it means something.

Read it left to right. `https://` is the **scheme**: how to talk (HTTPS, encrypted). `es.wikipedia.org` is the **host**, the domain name DNS turns into an IP address. `/wiki/Mate` is the **path**, which page on that site. `?lang=es` is the **query**, extra options for the server. `#historia` is the **fragment**, a spot inside the page that only the browser uses. Sometimes a port appears after the host, like `:8080`, when the server is not on the standard one.

URLs matter because they are the web's links: a search result, a QR code, a share button, all just pass a URL around. For you, the host is the part to check: a phishing page can copy a bank's look, but `banco-seguro.ejemplo.com` is not `banco.com`, and the browser shows the real host in the bar.

## An analogy

A full postal address on an envelope: country, city, street, floor and apartment. Each part narrows it down until there is exactly one door.

## Keep in mind

- Scheme, host, path, query, fragment: `https://` + `site.com` + `/page` + `?a=1` + `#section`.
- The host is the part that says who you are really talking to.
- Spaces and special characters get encoded, which is why you see `%20` in links.

## Go deeper

- [What is a URL? (MDN)](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Web_mechanics/What_is_a_URL)
- [URL (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL)

## Related terms

- [API](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/api/): The menu of things one program lets another program ask for.
- [HTTPS](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/https/): The padlock in your browser: web traffic nobody in between can read.
- [Encryption](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/encryption/): Scrambling data so that only someone with the key can read it.
- [Domain name](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/domain-name/): The readable name of a website, like wikipedia.org, that stands in for a numeric address.
- [DNS](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/dns/): The internet's phone book: it turns names like wikipedia.org into IP addresses.
- [IP address](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/ip-address/): The number that identifies a device on a network, like a postal address.
- [Server](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/server/): A computer whose job is to answer requests from other computers, all day, every day.
- [Web browser](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/web-browser/): The app that fetches web pages from the internet and draws them on your screen.