URL Parser

Parse, validate, and analyze URLs — component breakdown, query string editor, security and phishing checks, normalization, comparison, and batch parsing, all local to your browser.

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What is inside a URL?

A URL has a defined anatomy, standardised in RFC 3986: a scheme such as https, an optional userinfo section, a host, an optional port, a path, an optional query string, and an optional fragment after the hash. Written out, https://shop.example.com:8443/products/42?ref=email&utm_source=news#reviews contains every one of them.

The query string is where most of the interesting detail lives: key–value pairs separated by ampersands, with values percent-encoded so that spaces, slashes, and non-Latin characters survive transmission. Parsing a URL means splitting these components apart and decoding them, which turns an unreadable tracking link into a clear list of exactly which parameters are being carried and what they say. The fragment, notably, is never sent to the server — it is handled entirely by the browser.

Why we built this tool

Developers parse URLs when debugging redirects and callbacks, auditing analytics parameters, inspecting an OAuth flow, or working out why a link behaves differently than expected. Non-developers do it to see what a long tracking link is actually carrying about them.

Those URLs often contain session identifiers, signed tokens, email addresses, and one-time codes in the query string. Pasting them into a website hands over a live credential in some cases. Ours parses using the browser's built-in URL interface, in your tab, with no request sent — the link is never transmitted, logged, or stored. It also means the tool answers instantly and works with no connection.

Tips and common mistakes

  • The fragment after the hash is never sent to the server, which explains a lot of confusing redirect behaviour.
  • Strip utm_ and other tracking parameters before sharing a link publicly.
  • Treat any URL containing a token or a one-time code as a live credential.
  • Percent-encoded non-Latin characters expand to several escapes each; that is correct, not corruption.

Open URL Parser with a link

URL Parser can be handed its input by the link that opens it, so the page arrives with the work already done. This is meant for assistants and scripts: if a chatbot, an editor extension, or a command-line agent already holds your content, it can build a link instead of asking you to copy and paste into a box.

The payload rides in the fragment — the part of a URL after the #. Browsers never send the fragment to a server, so anything handed over this way stays on your device exactly as a dropped file would. A link that uses the query string instead is rewritten into the fragment by the page before any analytics or ad script can read the address.

Prefix any field with gz#gztext= — to pass it as gzip-compressed base64url, which fits roughly five to ten times more into the same link. Links stay reliable up to about 8,000 characters; past that, chat apps and address bars start truncating them, and the page says so rather than loading half a document.

One exception to the privacy rule: ?url= tells the page to download the input from an address. That request goes from your browser straight to that server — not through ours — but it does leave your device, and it only works if the server allows cross-origin requests.

  • #text= — the text to work on

Example: https://mygadgets.ink/tools/url-parser/#text=...

Quick start: using URL Parser

  1. Paste the URL into the input above.
  2. Read the broken-out components: scheme, host, port, path, query, and fragment.
  3. Review the query parameters as a decoded list.
  4. Look for tracking parameters, tokens, or personal data you did not expect to be there.
  5. Copy the part you need, or strip the parameters before sharing the link.

For manual encoding work, use URL Encoder/Decoder; to inspect a token found in a link, try JWT Decoder.

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