Softonic

URL Validator

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Paste a URL and this tool checks whether it is written correctly, then shows exactly how it breaks down. It uses PHP’s built-in validation (filter_var with FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) to test the syntax and reports the scheme, host, port, path, query and fragment, plus whether the URL is absolute and whether it uses HTTPS. This is a format check only: it never opens the link or contacts the server, so it cannot tell you whether the page is online.

How the check works

  1. 1

    Paste a URL

    Type or paste one URL. It is checked live as you type, with no button to press.

  2. 2

    Read the verdict

    A green panel means the syntax is valid; a red panel means it is not. A missing scheme or a space in the URL will fail.

  3. 3

    Inspect the parts

    The table lists the scheme, host, port, path, query and fragment that were found.

  4. 4

    Check the two flags

    Extra rows show whether the URL is absolute (it has both a scheme and a host) and whether it uses HTTPS.

What the check does, and what it does not

This validator tests format only, using the same rule a PHP backend uses: filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL). It is ideal for catching typos and malformed links before you save them, but it never touches the network.

It does It does not
Confirm the URL is syntactically valid Open the URL or load the page
Require a scheme such as http or https Check DNS or whether the host exists
Reject spaces and many illegal characters Report an HTTP status such as 200 or 404
Split out scheme, host, port, path, query, fragment Follow redirects
Flag whether the URL is absolute and uses HTTPS Inspect the SSL/TLS certificate

What passes and what fails

URL Result Reason
https://example.com/path?q=1 Valid Complete, absolute URL
example.com/path Invalid No scheme
https://example.com/my file Invalid Unencoded space
ftp://files.example.com Valid Any scheme counts; the HTTPS flag reads No
https://does-not-exist.invalid Valid The syntax is fine; the host is never contacted

Internationalized domains

The check uses ASCII rules, so a host written with non-ASCII characters, such as https://münchen.de, is reported invalid even though a browser would accept it after converting the host to Punycode (xn--mnchen-3ya.de). Convert the host first if you need it to pass. When you need to know whether a link is actually live, reach for a dedicated uptime or broken-link checker instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. It means the URL is written correctly. The tool never opens the link, so a valid URL can still lead to a 404 or an offline server. Use a website or uptime checker to test whether a page actually responds.

Because it has no scheme. Validation requires a protocol such as http:// or https://; add one and it will pass.

No, there is no network request at all. The HTTPS row only reports whether the scheme is https, not whether the certificate is trusted or the site responds.

The URL is sent to our server to be checked, since the tool runs server-side. We do not store the URLs themselves; only an anonymous count that the validator ran is recorded.

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Tool available in other languages