The anatomy of a URL, piece by piece
A URL looks like one string but is really eight components in a trench coat: protocol, optional credentials, host, port, path, query parameters and fragment. Knowing which is which explains half of web debugging — why a link breaks, where a token lives, what the server actually sees.
Query strings are where URLs get hairy: percent-encoded values, repeated keys, ampersand separators. This parser breaks any URL into its parts and puts the query parameters in a decoded, editable table — change a value, remove a tracker, and rebuild the URL.
Open the free URL Parser — no signup, runs entirely in your browser.
How to use it
- Paste any absolute URL.
- Read the breakdown: origin, protocol, credentials, host, port, path, query, fragment.
- Edit parameters in the decoded table and copy the rebuilt URL.
Why this one
- Complete component breakdown, normalized href included.
- Query parameters decoded and shown as rows — duplicates preserved, not collapsed.
- Edit, add or remove parameters and rebuild a valid URL.
- Client-side parsing — URLs with tokens stay on your machine.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between host and origin?
The host is just the domain (and port, if non-default). The origin is protocol + host + port combined — the tuple browsers use for same-origin security checks. http and https versions of a site share a host but are different origins.
What is the fragment for?
Everything after #. It is handled purely client-side — never sent to the server — which is why SPAs use it for routing and why servers never see anchors in access logs.
Can a URL really contain a username and password?
Yes: https://user:pass@example.com is valid syntax. Browsers have deprecated it for good reasons — credentials in URLs leak into logs, history and referrers — but you will still meet it in connection strings.