What is percent-encoding?

URLs do not permit certain characters to be included in them. If you do include them, the URL may break and won't operate in the expected manner.

Data you have (including answers from the form) may include those characters, and you need a way to be able to use them safely in URLs (e.g. pre-filling). To achieve that, we can use something called percent-encoding, where a code represents a character, preceded by a %.

Let's look at an example of using percent-encoding.

• Original pre-fill URL

  https://example.paperform.co?email=support@paperform.co
  

• Altered URL using percent-encoding

  https://example.paperform.co?email=support%40paperform.co
  

Above, we used %40 to replace the @ in the URL. This is one of many substitutes we can apply to ensure the URL is safe to use and can operate correctly.

Character codes

Here are some more examples of supported codes:

Percent-encoder tool

You can use our percent-encoder tool to quickly convert any values into their URL-friendly counterparts. Type the full value (like "John Smith" or "john@example.com") to see its percent-encoded version (like "John%20Smith" or "john%40example.com").