URL encode in C#

Question

I'm having trouble finding the correct way to URL encode a string in C#. What I want is to encode the string some string to some%20code. Using HttpUtility.URLEncode(); method encode is to some+string.

• Konrad Rudolph: This is the correct way though.
• eyossi: So what is the problem? you should use HttpUtility.URLEncode
• user555045: So, is there something wrong with string.Replace("+", "%20")?

Answer 1

HttpUtility.UrlEncode does the right thing here.

Encodes a URL string. The UrlEncode method can be used to encode the entire URL, including query-string values.

When it comes to spaces on the URL, a + or %20 are both correct.

Also see URL encoding the space character: + or %20?.

• Gregor Menih: The problem was that I was sending a HTTP request to get the web page, where '+' was not valid. Eg. Sending a query with 'some+string' would search for 'some+string', not 'some string'.
• Peter Mortensen: What is the minimum required .NET version for HttpUtility.UrlEncode() (not necessarily what is listed in the MSDN page)?

Answer 2

If you want spaces encoded as %20 instead of +, you have to do the encoding yourself.

In URL encoding a + means space. You can also use %20, just as you can use the character code variant for any character, but the built in encoding uses the shorter variant.

Answer 3

This thread includes a discussion of some of the in-built encoding options for URIs:

How do I replace all the spaces with %20 in C#