What is a URL? Definition, Examples & How to Find Yours

A URL—short for Uniform Resource Locator—is the address that points your browser to a specific page, image, or file somewhere on the internet. If you have ever clicked a link, copied a link, or shared a web page, you have worked with a URL without necessarily knowing what the parts mean or how they fit together. This guide breaks down every component of a URL, shows real examples, and walks you through finding URLs on any device. All facts come from standards documentation and established references so you can trust what you read here.

Last checked: 2026-06-05

Full form: Uniform Resource Locator · Example: https://www.example.com/page · Purpose: Web address to locate resources on the internet · Inventor: Tim Berners-Lee

What is a URL?

URL meaning and full form

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. In web standards, a URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that both identifies the location of a resource on a computer network and provides a mechanism for retrieving it. Wikipedia describes it as “a reference to a resource on the World Wide Web.” The term is often used interchangeably with “web address,” though “web address” is a more casual phrasing for the same concept. IBM Documentation notes that a URL normally locates an existing resource on the Internet.

Every URL follows a structured syntax defined in RFC 3986, an internet standard document. That syntax organizes a URL into several parts that work together to pinpoint exactly where a resource lives and how your browser should retrieve it.

How a URL works

The generic URI syntax structures URLs into components in this order: scheme, authority (which can include user info, host, and optional port), path, optional query, and optional fragment. Wikipedia. The most common pattern for HTTP(S) URLs looks like this: scheme://hostname:port/path?query#fragment. IBM Documentation.

The scheme—often called the protocol—tells your browser how to access the resource. Common schemes include http, https, ftp, and mailto. Concrete CMS. When you see “https” at the start of a URL, that signals an encrypted connection using TLS. When you see “http,” the connection is unencrypted. The default port is 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS, though those numbers are usually hidden when browsers use them.

The domain name in a URL typically consists of a second-level domain plus a top-level domain (TLD), such as example.com, and may be preceded by subdomains like www, blog, or store. Concrete CMS. The path identifies a specific resource on the host server—think of it like a file folder structure on your computer. IBM Documentation.

Query parameters follow a question mark (?) and usually consist of name=value pairs separated by ampersands (&), such as ?id=123&sort=asc, allowing extra data to be sent to the server. IBM Documentation. The fragment identifier—the part after a # in a URL—is handled entirely on the client side and is not sent to the server; in HTML documents it typically points to a specific section or element on the page. MDN Web Docs.

Web development guides often distinguish absolute URLs, which include the scheme and full authority (for example, https://www.example.com/page), from relative URLs, which omit those parts and are resolved in the context of another document. MDN Web Docs. Many best-practice guides recommend semantic URLs that use meaningful, human-readable words in the path rather than opaque identifiers, to make addresses easier to understand and share. MDN Web Docs.

The pattern: Every URL follows a predictable structure that separates how to retrieve something from where it lives and what specific data to send along. Recognizing these parts helps you evaluate whether a link is trustworthy before you click it.

What is an example of a URL?

Common URL examples for websites

In typical instructional examples, a URL like https://www.example.com/index.html contains the https scheme, hostname www.example.com, and path or file name /index.html. Wikipedia. Another example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL points directly to the Wikipedia article about URLs. The registrable domain in that example is wikipedia.org—the part you should focus on when judging whether a URL comes from a source you trust. MDN Web Docs.

Parts of a URL broken down in an example

Take the URL https://www.example.com:8080/shop/item?id=42#reviews. Here is how the parts break down:

• Scheme: https (encrypted web traffic)
• Authority: www.example.com:8080 (domain plus optional port)
• Path: /shop/item (location of the resource on the server)
• Query string: ?id=42 (additional data passed to the server)
• Fragment: #reviews (client-side navigation to a section of the page)

For HTTP(S) URLs, the structural pattern is scheme://hostname:port/path?query, where the port is often omitted when using well-known defaults like 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS. IBM Documentation. That is why you typically see https://www.example.com instead of https://www.example.com:443—the browser assumes the default when no port is shown.

What this means: Even a long, complex URL follows a logical structure. If you can identify which part is the domain, you can judge whether a link is likely to be legitimate or suspicious.

How do I find my URL?

Finding a URL depends on what you are trying to do: locate the address of a page you are viewing, share a link from your browser, or copy the address of an image. Most web browsers display the full URL of the current page in the address bar at the top of the window, and users can find or edit the URL there or by right-clicking and copying the link address from a hyperlink. Wikipedia.

Find URL in a web browser

• Open your browser and navigate to the page whose URL you need.
• Look at the address bar—the long text field at the top of the browser window.
• The full URL of the current page is displayed there. You can click inside the field to select the entire address.
• Right-click inside the address bar and choose “Copy,” or press Ctrl+A (or Cmd+A on Mac) to select all, then Ctrl+C (Cmd+C) to copy.

Find URL on a mobile phone

• Open the browser app on your phone and go to the page you want.
• Tap the address bar at the top of the screen. The URL will highlight or become editable.
• Tap and hold to bring up options, then select “Copy” or “Copy link.”
• On some phones, you may need to tap the share icon and choose “Copy to clipboard” or a similar option.

Find URL of an image

• On a computer, right-click the image and choose “Copy image address” or “View image info,” depending on your browser.
• On a phone, long-press the image until a menu appears, then select “Copy image” or “Open image in new tab” to reveal the URL.
• The image URL will look something like https://www.example.com/images/photo.jpg.

The bottom line: Every device has an address bar where the URL appears. Whether you are on a desktop, tablet, or phone, the process is similar: find the bar, tap or click it, and use the copy option from the menu or the keyboard shortcut.

How does a URL differ from a URI?

A URI is any string that identifies a resource, while a URL is the subset of URIs that specify how to locate a resource by describing its primary access mechanism (such as its network location). IBM Documentation. In practical terms, every URL is a URI, but not every URI is a URL. A URI might identify something without telling you how to retrieve it; a URL always includes that retrieval method.

The trade-off: The distinction matters mostly in technical contexts. For everyday browsing and sharing links, you can treat “URL” and “web address” as interchangeable terms—the distinction is only relevant when discussing web standards or programming APIs.

How do I stay safe when using URLs?

Phishing attacks often exploit the way URLs are structured to mislead users. A link might include a trustworthy-looking subdomain (like secure-bank.example.com) to trick you into thinking it belongs to your bank when the actual domain is example.com. MDN Web Docs. Modern security recommendations advise users to focus on the registrable domain when assessing trust, because the subdomain and path can be set by anyone.

Always verify that the domain you see matches the organization you expect before entering sensitive information. If something feels off—perhaps the URL contains unusual characters, excessive numbers, or a domain that is close to but not exactly what you expect—navigate directly to the site by typing the address yourself rather than clicking the link.

What to watch: Inspect the domain before clicking. In a URL like https://support-bank.example.com.fake-site.com/login, the actual domain is fake-site.com, not a subdomain of a bank.