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Build the URL from its parts: leave = and & in place when they separate query parameters, but percent-encode a plus sign or ampersand that is literal data inside a value as %2B or %26. This prevents the receiving application from mistaking your search text for URL syntax.
Why plus signs and ampersands can change a search URL
In a common query string, an equals sign connects a parameter name to its value, while an ampersand separates one parameter from the next. Google Search Central describes this pattern in its URL structure guidance.
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For example, in ?q=red&page=2, the first ampersand separates the q parameter from page. If the search value itself contains a raw ampersand, a parser using this convention may treat the text after it as another parameter instead of part of the search.
Plus signs need care for a different reason. RFC 3986 classifies both + and & as reserved URI characters; what they mean depends on the URI component and the application interpreting it. Some form-style query parsers treat an unencoded plus as a space, but that is not a universal rule for every URI parser.
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Encode literal characters, not query structure
When a character is part of the search value rather than a separator, use its percent-encoded form:
| Character in the value | Encode as | Why |
|---|---|---|
Literal plus sign (+) |
%2B |
A form-style parser may interpret an unencoded plus as a space. |
Literal ampersand (&) |
%26 |
A raw ampersand commonly separates query parameters. |
Keep structural characters intact. In ?q=C%2B%2B&mode=exact, %2B%2B preserves the two literal plus signs in the value, while the raw ampersand still separates the q and mode parameters.
This follows the distinction in RFC 3986: when data in a URI component would conflict with a reserved character’s delimiter purpose, the conflicting data must be percent-encoded before the URI is formed.
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- Identify the parameters. Write the parameter names and values you need, such as
qfor the search andpagefor a page number. - Mark literal characters in each value. Encode a plus sign as
%2Band an ampersand as%26if either belongs to the search text and the receiving parser could treat it as syntax. - Join the URL components. Use
=between each parameter name and value and a raw&between separate parameters. - Check the result in the target application. Confirm that it displays or searches for the intended text; exact interpretation depends on that application’s query parser.
Parse before decoding
Percent-encoded sequences represent octets in a URI component. RFC 3986 advises separating URI components before decoding those sequences: decoding a reserved character too early can turn encoded data such as %26 into a raw ampersand that appears to be a parameter boundary. Keep the encoded form through parsing, then decode the value at the appropriate stage for the receiving application.
Generic URI syntax versus form-style query parsing
Generic URI syntax does not make plus universally synonymous with space. That behavior comes from form-style query conventions used by some applications. The W3C’s historical URI documentation describes plus as a shorthand for a space in that context and says a literal plus must be encoded there. For reliable sharing, use %2B when the plus is data and check the target application’s rules if exact interoperability matters.
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