How to Properly Decode URLs in Java?

Unlocking URL Decoding in Java

In Java, URL decoding is crucial for converting encoded URLs into their human-readable format. Your provided code encounters an issue because it conflates URL encoding and character encoding.

Understanding URL Encoding

URL encoding uses a special format (%XX), where XX represents a hexadecimal value, to allow characters that would otherwise cause issues in URLs (such as spaces and special characters).

Decoding URL with Java

The standard Java API provides the URLDecoder class to decode URL-encoded strings. To decode the provided example, you can use the following code:

try {
    String decodedURL = java.net.URLDecoder.decode(url, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
    // Not going to happen - JDK provides UTF-8
}

Note on Character Encoding

Character encoding (e.g., UTF-8, ASCII) specifies how characters are represented in raw bytes. It's important to remember that URL encoding is distinct from character encoding and should not be confused with it.

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