CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmlhttpurl
cherouvim
cherouvim

Reputation: 31903

Names for types of URLs

  1. Absolute
    http://www.example.com/images/icons.png

  2. Relative
    ../images/icons.png

  3. ???
    /images/icons.png

  4. ???
    //www.example.com/images/icons.png

Do URL types 3 and 4 have names? One place I've seen type 4 being used is on Slashdot.

Upvotes: 28

Views: 21177

Answers (5)

otaga godfries sue
otaga godfries sue

Reputation: 1

Absolute Url gives out directly the location of the file/document you are looking for. example:"http:/www.otagasue.com/images/coolpics.jpg" Relative Urls normally points a file/document in relation ti the current location of the file.unlike absolute thet are short urls referring to root directory example"...otagasue/pica.jpg"

frm otaga.

Upvotes: 0

Alnitak
Alnitak

Reputation: 339786

Type 1 is just a "URI" (sometimes called an "absolute URI").

For types 2, 3 and 4 the definitive answers are in RFC 3986, section 4.2.

They are all "relative references", but according to the RFC are qualified thus:

  • ../images/icons.png - "relative path reference"
  • /images/icons.png - "absolute path reference"
  • //.../icons.png - "network path reference"

The latter is often used if you want to specify a URL containing a domain name, but where you want the protocol to match the protocol used to access the current resource. For example, if your images are downloaded from a CDN, you could use this to default to https if the current page was also downloaded via https, thus preventing the warning about including non-secure resources in a secure page.

Upvotes: 45

sjstrutt
sjstrutt

Reputation: 5635

  1. Absolute http://www.example.com/images/icons.png
  2. Document-Relative ../images/icons.png
  3. Root-Relative /images/icons.png
  4. Protocol-Relative //www.example.com/images/icons.png

For #4, I've also often called them "Protocol-Agnostic"

Upvotes: 53

Jose Basilio
Jose Basilio

Reputation: 51468

number 3 is also considered relative. number 4 is absolute, but lacks the protocol. This is useful, if you want to be able to access the same URL using HTTP and HTTPS.

Absolute URLs specify the location of a Web page in full, and work identically no matter where in the world you are.

Relative URLs are context-sensitive, giving a path with respect to your current location.

Upvotes: 7

Anthony
Anthony

Reputation: 7146

Type three is root-relative.

Dunno about 4.

Upvotes: 1

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