What is a URL?

Question From Reader:

I keep coming across the term ‘URL’ when reading articles online. I gather that it means a web address, but what do the letters stand for? Is a URL different to a normal web address?

Answer

Yes, ‘URL’ is a techie way of referring to a web address. For example,’ http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ ‘ is a URL (and a ‘web address’).

URL stands for U niform R esource L ocator.

When spoken out loud, URL is normally pronounced ‘you-are-ell’. The term is also sometimes pronounced as ‘Earl’, although saying it that way may irritate the geeks in your life no end.

A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). A URI is a string of characters used to identify a name of a resource. However, ‘URL’ and ‘URI’ are often used interchangeably.

Note that an alternative meaning for URL is Universal R esource L ocator, although U niform R esource L ocator is probably the most widely accepted. In any case, both mean the same thing.

So, that’s probably all most of us would ever need to know about a URL. However, if you want to dig deeper into the complexities of URLs, URIs, and related terms, the following links should provide the information you need.