What are %20, %23 etc characters?

[Robert Charlton]

I'm sure this is a super elementary question, but I've seen %20 characters in referral strings lots of times and have never been sure what they are.

What prompted me to ask was... in quick succession... seeing
"keyword1%20keyword2"
in a WebTrends Live log, and then seeing %23 before a (WebmasterWorld) message number in a Foo thread.

Tried searching the board and on Google for this, but it's a tricky thing to search for if you don't know what they're called.

[VictorE]

%20 is a space. Not sure about %23. I think perhaps this translates to ASCII codes, but I'm not sure.

[SuzyUK]

%20 indicates a space not sure about %23 but I'm sure someone else will know

Suzy

[jatar_k]

%23 is the number sign or pound sign - #

[Robert Charlton]

>>%20 is a space.<<

Why would I see, then, separate listings for...

keyword1%20keyword2

and

keyword keyword2

--?

[pageoneresults]

I believe %23 = (#) pound sign.

<edit>Had incorrect info for the %23 character based on other replies, sorry!</edit>

[edited by: pageoneresults at 8:28 pm (utc) on Jan. 9, 2003]

[pageoneresults]

Why would I see, then, separate listings for...

This is one of the few issues that I have with using WebTrends Live. It really makes a mess of the statistics as they are all over the place!

[Robert Charlton]

>>%23 is the number sign or pound sign - #<<

In the context of the WebmasterWorld message number, that makes sense. Anyone know what these are called so I can find a table of them, just in case I encounter more?

[Robert Charlton]

>>This is one of the few issues that I have with using WebTrends Live. It really makes a mess of the statistics as they are all over the place!<<

pageone - Thanks. I was going to Sticky you about some WebTrends Live questions... Maybe I should just start a new thread. This particular forum right now is getting the fastest replies I've ever encountered on the board. Is this what everyone here does with their lunch hour? ;) (I know the pageone, at least, is in California, where it's a little after noon).

[SuzyUK]

Here's a link to conversion codes:
Link here [ascii.cl]

%23 is the # sign

Suzy

[jdMorgan]

They are a form of the ASCII code - American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The percent sign indicates that these are the hexadecimal numeric representation. Every character in a computer (in the western world, anyway) is represented in this (or a similar) numeric manner. Text editors, browsers and other programs translate these numbers into characters to be displayed using font lookups and other methods.

The digit on the left of this chart [cs.nmsu.edu] is the first digit, and the digits across the top are the second digit.

Jim

[pageoneresults]

Robert, here is a response I received from WTL back in September concerning the character references...

log+analyzer%22&btnG=Google+Search
^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Will be recognized as "google", and the query is
"webtrends+%22log+analyzer%22".

We do convert the '+' into a space ' ' for you, but we do not unescape
the %22.

If you demand satisfaction instantly here is a handy bit of JavaScript
you can run in the address bar of your browser, just paste it in there,
change the phrase your unescaping and hit enter to see what the exact
phrase typed in was:
javascript:alert(unescape('STRING'));

So the above example would yield:
javascript:alert(unescape('webtrends %22log analyzer%22'));

*Note* the reason that the string in the code is 'webtrends %22log
analyzer%22' is because in the reports we DO turn pluses (+) into spaces
( ). That means that 'webtrends+%22log+analyzer%22' sent to us will be
'webtrends %22log analyzer%22' in the report.

Still didn't answer my original question as to why they are there. I've never had to deal with them in other tracking and logging products.

That's okay, I'm looking at another package right now to possibly replace WTL, it looks promising.

My response to the above...

Unfortunately this is an unwieldy way to present statistics to clients. I've got a couple who are using it right now and they are asking me how to get rid of all the garbage characters. Are you telling me that there is no way to eliminate these in the statistics? If that is the case, I have to search for another traffic metrics program as this doesn't work. Please advise, thank you.

Their response...

Hello,

I apologize, this issue is as designed. It is reporting to you exactly what was in the URL.

[Robert Charlton]

Thanks... I was familiar with the & #xy; codes. Didn't realize the numeric codes in urls were hex.

Once I knew what these were called, it was easy to find a detailed article [blooberry.com] in Google. Searched for <ascii hex codes in urls>. Searching for just "%20", though, doesn't do it. It's like looking a word up in a dictionary is much easier when you know how to spell it. ;)

pageone - I may start that thread about WTL anyway. Thanks for the heads up.