PHP Manual: URL-encode according to RFC 3986

Description

string rawurlencode ( string $str )

Encodes the given string according to » RFC 3986.

Parameters

str: The URL to be encoded.

Return Values

Returns a string in which all non-alphanumeric characters except -_.~ have been replaced with a percent (%) sign followed by two hex digits. This is the encoding described in » RFC 3986 for protecting literal characters from being interpreted as special URL delimiters, and for protecting URLs from being mangled by transmission media with character conversions (like some email systems).

Note:
Prior to PHP 5.3.0, rawurlencode encoded tildes (~) as per » RFC 1738.

Changelog

Version	Description
5.3.4	Tilde characters are no longer encoded when rawurlencode is used with EBCDIC strings.
5.3.0	Now conforms to » RFC 3986.

Examples

Example #1 including a password in an FTP URL


<?php
echo '<a href="ftp://user:', rawurlencode('foo @+%/'),
     '@ftp.example.com/x.txt">';
?>

The above example will output:

<a href="ftp://user:foo%20%40%2B%25%2F@ftp.example.com/x.txt">

Or, if you pass information in a PATH_INFO component of the URL:

Example #2 rawurlencode example 2


<?php
echo '<a href="http://example.com/department_list_script/',
    rawurlencode('sales and marketing/Miami'), '">';
?>