What is the ? on the end of my URL

http://www.example.com/games.shtml?

[KG2RG]

What is the ? on the end of my URL?

EXAMPLE: www.example.com/games.shtml?

[tedster]

I'm not fully understanding your question, but I did put out an alert to some others who might -- hang tight!

[KG2RG]

I have a page with a form on it. The form points to a cgi mailform script. When I'm on the form.shtml page, I notice a ? at the end of the URL, up in the address bar of IE Explorer. Example:

Address bar reads---> http:// www.example.com/form.shtml?

What is that ? on the end. Should it read http:// www.example.com/form.shtml

I just want to make sure the ? is OK. or if it is an indicator of some sort of existing problem??

Thanks!

(edited by: tedster at 12:46 am (utc) on Mar. 22, 2002)

[Purple Martin]

Isn't it a query string with no value pairs? Here's an example of one with three value pairs (it's in my address bar as I type this!):

www.webmasterworld.com/ipost.cgi?action=reply&forum=21&discussion=1842

What you're seeing is the same kind of thing but the calling page had empty form fields (or it's script didn't append any value pairs to the URL).

[Key_Master]

It's an empty query string. Probably being used to verify that form data was sent via POST (as opposed to GET). It's a common security trick used with mailform scripts.

[Key_Master]

After reading the post mosre carefully I'm not so sure about my previous response. I still think it has something to do with security though. If the mailform script is working fine I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[KG2RG]

I have seen the ? on scripts before, but this is on a shtml page. Its just html. The only thing in this page is a html form. There is nothing happening yet. Its showing before the form if submitted. Its showing prior to any script action.

[bobriggs]

Is it a typed URL or did you click on a link to get there?

If it is a typed URL and you see the ? there might be a redirection issue with your server.

OTOH, if you clicked a link to get there, I'd check the source code of the referring page.

[KG2RG]

OK, I figured it out. Would you guys like to know what gave? I guess I can tell you guys since you all where so helpful. Actually, thank you all very much!

I think Key_Master was onto something with the security thing. Also, something else I did not mention, the script ran very slow. I was concerned about the time it took to process the form. The form is somewhat sophisticated with a few options and features. Plus, My form was of good size, so I was not sure about the time.

The form.shtml was in the same directory as the script. So I moved it to the root and not only did the ? cease and desist, but the script processed the form like a bullet, FAST!!

Thank you all for the help!

[KG2RG]

OOPS! I must take back a thing I said and ad something else. The script runs great, very fast now, however, the ? is still there. I think I got it this time, thanks th xxxxxx. I think its the way I'm linking to the form.shtml. I'm using a link submit button like this:

<form method="get" action="http://www.nelcohauling.com/test/shtml/">
<input type="submit" value="SEE DEMO">
</form>

I notices other links to other documents that use this link method also have the ?. I have yet to try a regular link. But, I don't think its hurting anything. I may make a button to link to the page instead.

[bobriggs]

Ok, I just put that code to one of my sites:

input method="GET" action="http://example.com/folder/ ..blah blah

and tried it with ..../folder/index.html

I get the ? at the end of the url on IE6, Opera 6, Mozilla, and NN4

Looks like any get request from these browsers will automatically place the ? expecting name value pairs from other input elements. Since there are none, the result is what you see.

So, it seems to be normal, and I wouldn't worry about it. The server strips off the ? probably to determine the page requested and places nothing in the environment for it.

[KG2RG]

Yes, looks like that's it and its OK, THAKS!

[bobriggs]

Just wanted to add that the relative links on the result page work fine also.

Your logs would reflect the ?. I guess if you had a text link to the page and a button, you could gauge which one is more effective for clicks. Obviously, though, SE crawlers won't follow the FORM.