What is URL Validation?
URL validation checks whether a string is a properly formatted URL (Uniform Resource Locator). This includes verifying the protocol, domain structure, and overall format. Valid syntax doesn't guarantee the resource exists - just that the URL is well-formed.
Use this to validate user input, test URL formatting, or verify links before using them in code.
URL Components
A URL consists of: protocol (https://), hostname (example.com), optional port (:8080), path (/page), query (?key=value), and fragment (#section).
Example: https://user:pass@sub.domain.com:8080/path/to/page?query=string#anchor
What Gets Validated
The validator checks:
- Parseable as a URL
- Has http or https protocol
- Has a hostname
- Hostname format (has TLD or is localhost)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is URL validation?
URL validation checks if a string is a properly formatted URL with valid protocol, domain, and optional path/query components. It verifies structure, not whether the resource exists.
Is a URL without http:// valid?
Technically, URLs require a protocol scheme. 'example.com' is a domain but not a complete URL. 'http://example.com' or 'https://example.com' are proper URLs.
What URL protocols are valid?
Common protocols include http://, https://, ftp://, file://, mailto:. For web URLs, https:// is preferred for security. This validator accepts http and https.
Are IP addresses valid in URLs?
Yes! URLs can use IP addresses instead of domains: http://192.168.1.1/path or http://[2001:db8::1]/ for IPv6. Both are valid URL formats.