I am a posting machine today! Anyway, for a while now I've been quite confused about the difference between URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) and URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). I finally decided to do a little research and try and identify the distinction. I found the following at the W3C's Contemporary View of Uniform Resource Identifiers:
"...a URL is a type of URI that identifies a resource via a representation of its primary access mechanism (e.g., its network "location"), rather than by some other attributes it may have. Thus as we noted, "http:" is a URI scheme. An http URI is a URL. The phrase "URL scheme" is now used infrequently, usually to refer to some subclass of URI schemes..."
However, as is typical with W3C documents and specs, there's a little too much technical mumbo-jumbo floating around in that explanation to satisfy anyone who doesn't balance their checkbook in binary, so I kept looking. Kenneth Fly's Web Site provides provided the following:
"URI stands for Universal Resource Identifier and URL stands for Universal Resource Locator. Often times people use the terms interchangably, which is not entirely correct. A URL is a subset of the URI popular protocols. These are protocols (http://, ftp://, mailto:). Therefore all URLs are URIs. The term URL is deprecated and the more correct term URI is used in technical documentation. All URIs are means to access a resource on the Internet and are a a technical short hand used to link to the resource. URIs always designate a method to access the resource and designate the specific resource to be accessed."
So...my terminology is apparently way out-dated and I need to start saying "URI" instead of "URL." Why? Because anything that has been deprecated is bad news (remember the evil <blink> tag?). Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.
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very nice work and thanks a lot.
exactly what was needed to clear up the issue... convinced as per usual that folks create terminology primarily to confound and confuse, but this research helped unravel the mystery. thanks.
Not so fast, folks: "Universal" or "Uniform"? I see both instances used all the time. Which is it? Anybody that can shed some authortative light on this will win praise from my students and me. -DB
Professor Dino, it's definitely "Uniform," not "Universal." If you don't believe me, compare the number of results returned in a Google search for "URL stands for uniform" vs. "URL stands for universal" (being sure to include the quotes) and you'll see the difference.
You are most correct, and the W3C is very clear on this. I'd be interested to learn why people often mistake it as "universal" though, as was evident in the snippet from the Kenneth Fly Web site as posted above:
URI stands for Universal Resource Identifier and URL stands for Universal Resource Locator.
Either way, the difference between URN, URL and URI is important, but only to an extent as far as the average user is concerned--in other words, they don't care and will spit back any more acronyms our industry throws at them. Heck, we can't even get 'RSS' straight :)
I did the google search and found the following:
"URL stands for universal" gave me 874
"URL stands for uniform" gave me 11,500
"URL" gave me 204,000,000
"URI stands for universal" gave me 55
"URI stands for uniform" gave me 146
"URI" gave me 7,090,000
So, while uniform is much more popular than universal, the we has it's worrk cut out for them to convert from url to uri. My guess is that most people are concerned with finding the right location then clicking a link to get to the ftp:// or other protocol.
The Information is Exactly what i wanted.. Hats of to you Bernie for that example.
I arrived at this site via google. I was in a similar dilemma as others have been, so I googled, "What is the difference between URI and URN."
So, that's how it is that I arrived here. I read your discussion and was very thankful for the directness of your explanation.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of reading your visitors' posts... and I became -- not confused -- let's just say, "curious!" <g>
So, I returned to my google search to see what others had to say... and I believe I discovered the source of the Universal vs. Uniform confusion.
Tim Berners-Lee wrote (Article written by T.B.L. circa 1993), incorrectly, that a URI stands for "Universal Resource Identifier" while also noting, correctly, that URL stands for "Uniform Resource Locator."
After reading his article, I was more "curious!" <g> So, I kept digging and found RFC 2396, also authored by the WWW King himself (in 1998). This time, however, URI is a "Uniform Resource Identifier!"
So I have written this "tome-post" to conclude 2 distinct points. Firstly, the U in URI, URL and URN stands for "Uniform" in all three cases. Secondly, if Mr. Berners-Lee can get it wrong (at least once), then we all should feel good about being in the company of an entrepreneur such as he!
Very interesting poit,
I found this page that can be usefull for you, people:
Glosary: (http://compnetworking.about.com/library/glossary/bldef-uri.htm)
"A URI is a standard global identifier for an Internet resource that may be local or remotely-accessible. URIs follow the same general syntax as URLs; in fact, URLs are one type of URI.
Whereas URLs always refer to network addresses (including a protocol specification, host name or address, and local path), a URI does not necessarily refer to a remote resource. For example, the URI file:///c:/ specifies a local directory. Because file does not refer to any specific network protocol, this URI is not also a URL. "
Ok.. that last post explains it best. A URL is a type of URI, and the difference is that URL's point to network resources, whereas a URI is a schema that can identify any resource.
Really informative.
A URI is just the most specific identifier. Most Universal ;)
example URI: http:***//www.benzilla.com /item.html***#ancor
the URL is the same, but without the name specification. Like http:***//www.benzilla.com /item.html
If you take out the http: part from the URI, you would call it a URN (uniform resource Name). That part is called the scheme and could be http: ftp: file: etc.
A URN may also include the location of a code fragment, but doesn't specify the scheme (protocol). Like www.benzilla.com /item.html***#ancor
TIP: just talk about the "identifier" when you wanne look smart... :p
Thanks for the extra information, wisbin, but who is this benzilla guy? ;)
Differences between website and URL.
yeah, this information is really more understandable than others as i searched out in many sites. Finally this definition clears my all doubts... n we can u use anything in the place of U in URI or URL , either "uniform" or "universal".. Both constitutes the same meaning...
Thanks for the info!
Your link to Kenneth Fly's Web Site, above, is dead.
Thanks for pointing that out, Gregory. I've removed the dead link.
Thnks for such a nice distinction, previous google search pages kind of confused me, but your explanation seems to make sense most.
Thanks for the information!
Hey gr8 work guys...Thanks a lot for such a valuable information in a very simple manner...
very good
thumbs up :)
Every URL is a type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or, more precisely, the set of URLs is a proper subset of the set of URIs. A URI identifies a particular resource while a URL both identifies a resource and indicates how to locate it.
hey.....
i had a big confusion on the difference between url and uri but now its cleared.
It so happens that most of the people are still unaware of the term uri and url in regard.
thanks anywaz...
Thanks for the info -- URI it is!
thank you.
Elizabeth
No thanks. I shall keep using the term URL till the sun turns supernova.
Sometimes bazaar colloquilism should be allowed to triumph over regimentally precise language. No one in the executive realm knows what I mean when I say URI. I would get the tilted-head dog blank stares if I try to explain URL vs URI. Since we programmers are a small dot in the large corporate world and the executive realm pays my paycheck - their preference for terminology rules.
Check this RFC out for complete info :
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2396.html
Have a look at the Wikipedia article for a good explanation of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier#Relationship_to_URL_and_URN
And disregard Kenneth Fly and wisbin as sources of information. They get more things wrong than right.
Also, the relevant RFC as of August 2006 is #3986 (it obsoletes #2396): http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986
Anyway, thanks for posting about this. I was curious myself, and I think I've got it now.
Very many thanks for a good work. Nice and useful. Like it!
I would like to wish you much luck. And a lot of money. Thank you.
Very many thanks for a good work. Nice and useful. Like it!
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This is a very useful info page! Thanks! You explained it the way one really expects to get their doubts cleared.
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