Unable to encode Url properly using HttpUtility.UrlEncode() method

Question

I have created an application in which I need to encode/decode special characters from the url which is entered by user.

For example : if user enters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Å then it's respective Url should be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85.

I made console application with following code.

string value = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Å";
Console.WriteLine(System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode(value));

It decodes the character Å successfully and also encodes :// characters. After running the code I am getting output like : http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2f%c3%85 but I want http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85

What should I do?

Answer 1

Uri.EscapeUriString(value) returns the value that you expect. But it might have other problems.

There are a few URL encoding functions in the .NET Framework which all behave differently and are useful in different situations:

1. Uri.EscapeUriString
2. Uri.EscapeDataString
3. WebUtility.UrlEncode (only in .NET 4.5)
4. HttpUtility.UrlEncode (in System.Web.dll, so intended for web applications, not desktop)

Answer 2

You could use regular expressions to select hostname and then urlencode only other part of string:

var inputString = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Å";
var encodedString;
var regex = new Regex("^(?<host>https?://.+?/)(?<path>.*)$");
var match = regex.Match(inputString);
if (match.Success)
 encodedString = match.Groups["host"] + System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode(match.Groups["path"].ToString());
Console.WriteLine(encodedString);