Learn about the different parts of a url

1. Parts of a URL

2. Overview
URL(universal resource locator) is a string of characters
that sets the location to a resource on a network. This
tutorial focus will be breaking down the parts of a url to
help better understand the composition of the string.
Each part being discussed will be highlighted in a light
blue like the example below.
www.prodigyview.com

3. Protocol
Protocol can be described as the type of connection. The
normal protocol is http but other protocols include https, ftp,
and ssh.
Protocols have default ports that they communicate over.
Http: Port 80
Https : 221
FTP: Port 20
Protocol www.prodigyview.com

4. Subdomain
The subdomain is the first part of the hostname, which
can be found between ‘//’ and the first ‘.’ . The subdomain
www is the default subdomain used but can be change to
string of alpha numeric characters, such as our example
below.
Subdomain
www.prodigyview.com

5. Domain Name
The domain name is the parts of the domain after the
subdomain and before the port or path. It will include the
top-level domain or second level domain.
www.prodigyview.com

6. Top Level Domain
The top level domain(TLD) is the country code for the
domain. In the example below the TLD is the uk. In other
instances it is com, net, org, biz and even edu.
www.prodigyview.com

7. Second Level Domain and
Country Code SLD.
The second level domain(SLD) is the part of the url before
the top level domain. In our example, it is prodigyview.
The country code second level domain (ccSLD) is the
part of the url directly before the top level domain and
after the SLD.
1. Second Level Domain
2. Country Code Second Level Domain

8. Port
The normal port that a web server runs on is port 80, but
your web server can be configured to run on any port
such as 9000. Remember that if you change the port,
make sure another program is also not using that port.
www.prodigyview.com

9. Path
The path refers to a file or location on the web server.
Many of today’s web server paths are actually dynamic
urls that are used to generate code depending on the
path. The beginning of the path starts with a ‘/’.
www.prodigyview.com

10. Parameters
Urls have parameters that are generally designated after
the ? symbol and separated with an & symbol. Normally
parameters are parsed by a scripting language such as
php.
www.prodigyview.com

11. Search Engine Friendly
Parameters
A lot of servers today perform a cool trick where they take in
parameters, and rewrite them as paths. This makes both search
engine friendly and user friendly urls.
Example
www.example.com/index.php?action=view&video=5
Becomes
www.example.com/view/5
www.prodigyview.com

12. Fragment/Anchors
The last part of the url is what can either be known as
fragment or anchor. The variable is define after a the ‘#’
symbol. Fragments normally act as a location to go to on
a page.
www.prodigyview.com

13. More Tutorials
For more tutorials, please visit:
http://www.prodigyview.com/tutorials
www.prodigyview.com