Definition and Usage

The rawurldecode() function decodes percent-encoded characters represented by a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits back to their original characters, and converts %20 into a space character.

This function is primarily used to decode URI components—such as path segments or query parameter values—that have been rawurlencode()-encoded in a strict manner.

Basic Example

PHP 
/* Encode a query parameter value using rawurlencode() */
$keyword = 'iPhone & Galaxy/Note=100% #1';
$encoded = rawurlencode($keyword);

echo 'https://example.com/search?query=' . $encoded;
// Output: 'https://example.com/search?query=iPhone%20%26%20Galaxy%2FNote%3D100%25%20%231'

/* Decode the query parameter using rawurldecode() */
$decoded = rawurldecode($encoded);
echo $decoded;
// Output: 'iPhone & Galaxy/Note=100% #1'

Features

  • Decodes a URL-encoded string back to its original form.
  • Optimized for decoding URLs encoded with the rawurlencode() function.
  • Converts %20 into a space character.

The rawurlencode() function encodes a given string for use in a URL according to RFC 3986.
RFC 3986 is the standard for URL encoding, where all characters except uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, -, _, ., and ~ are replaced with a percent sign (%) followed by two hexadecimal digits. Spaces are encoded as %20.

Syntax

PHP 
rawurldecode(string $string): string

Parameters

Description of the rawurldecode() Function Parameter
$string The encoded URL string to decode.

Return Values

Decodes all %## encoding in the given $string, converting %20 sequences into space characters. Returns the decoded string.

Practical Examples

PHP 
// Server URL and image path containing spaces and special characters
$server_url = 'https://www.example.com';
$image_path = '/images/my image.jpg';

// Use rawurlencode() when appending file paths to URLs
$encoded_image_path = rawurlencode($image_path);

$image_url = $server_url . $encoded_image_path;

echo $image_url . '<br>';
// Output: 'https://www.example.com%2Fimages%2Fmy%20image.jpg'

$rawurlencode_image_path  = rawurldecode($image_path);
echo $rawurlencode_image_path;
// Output: '/images/my image.jpg'

File paths may contain spaces, slashes (/), and other special characters.

In the example above, the rawurlencode() function is used to safely append the file path—including spaces and slashes—to the URL, ensuring that special characters conform to URL encoding rules and are correctly handled by web browsers.

Strings encoded with rawurlencode() can be safely decoded back to their original form using the rawurldecode() function.

References

See also