What Exactly Is a URL, and What Does It Look Like?
– A super-friendly guide you’ll understand in one read
Every day when you open your phone or computer, the first thing you do is probably type a string of characters or tap a link.
That string is called a URL.
Whether it’s a cat photo, a video, an email, a Google Doc, or the page you’re reading right now, each one has its own unique URL. As soon as the browser gets this address, it can find the exact resource on the vast internet and display it for you, just like a delivery courier following an address.
So, a URL is simply the internet’s house number.
A typical URL you see every day (let’s break down a real one)
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1XJ411W7hM?p=6&t=185&spm_id_from=333.999.0.0#player
Don’t be scared by how long it looks – it’s actually very orderly. Let’s peel it apart from left to right, layer by layer.
1. Protocol (the part at the very beginning + ://)
https://
This tells the browser “how” to go get the resource.
https://→ encrypted and secure (used by 99% of sites today)http://→ the old unencrypted versionftp://→ ancient way to download files
