Copying unicode symbols from Firefox address bar as is

36

9

Let's say I open a webpage with some Unicode characters, say, Cyrillic, in the address like this:

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Функциональная_закреплённость

When I try to copy it from the address bar somewhere else, it becomes unreadable rubbish:

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BB%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C

I guess this is for compatibility. However for readability I want to copy it straight away with proper Unicode characters.

What and how should I tweak to make that possible?

Edit: The answers are good, but they are hacky. Are there any settings in about:config?

Mirzhan Irkegulov

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 1 134

1

From the multiple answers, the easiest way seems to be: Copy only a fragment of the URL, and more completely: Don't select the whole URL in the address bar, either exclude one character, or add one (e.g. a space at the end). Then add/remove this character after the paste.

– mins – 2018-07-20T07:40:30.990

related: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18176661/copying-a-utf-8-url-from-browsers-address-bar-gives-only-the-ugly-encoded-one

– Ciro Santilli 新疆改造中心法轮功六四事件 – 2020-02-01T01:23:08.513

Answers

17

The setting was replaced with browser.urlbar.decodeURLsOnCopy in Firefox 53+.

int_ua

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 183

1

It works only in url-bar, if I just copy link from web-page and past – I still get %-things. Does Firefox have addon like Chrome's?

– stegetsj – 2019-02-23T12:45:46.847

17

Try setting the network.standard-url.escape-utf8 option via about:config.

Possible values and their effects:

  • true - Escape UTF-8 URLs. (Default)
  • false - Do not escape UTF-8 URLs.

user201919

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 171

4Doesn't seem to be working anymore. I'm using FF28. The option is there but it gives no effect. – Adobe – 2014-07-11T12:20:11.913

For the record for future visitors, setting network.standard-url.escape-utf8 to false does seem to work as of FF40. – sundar - Reinstate Monica – 2015-08-29T19:50:06.840

This was the default on some version, but was changed because it breaks some websites: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=552273

– Ciro Santilli 新疆改造中心法轮功六四事件 – 2015-10-07T04:58:46.693

Works fine in FF 45. – Aleksey K – 2016-03-29T22:02:37.607

Changing the setting doesn't do anything in FF 49. – Flimm – 2016-11-14T09:45:19.440

What's the difference between this setting, and the setting network.standard-url.encode-utf8 – Flimm – 2016-11-14T09:46:27.613

Seems to partially work, not for all symbols. In this case enabling flag works for cyrillic symbols, but parentheses are still encoded: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Стеклоомыватель_%28автомобиль%29 – user3132194 – 2017-02-06T05:48:31.860

6

The setting's name was changed, see this answer.

– Donald Duck – 2017-12-17T19:57:51.933

14

Yes, browsers do that -- it's URL encoding and actually a quite useful thing.

I see two choices

  1. Copy only a fragment of the URL, it will not be URL encoded.

  2. Decode the URL encoding. In Unix, you can open a terminal, and type

    echo -n -e "$(echo http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%DB0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BB%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C | sed 's/+/ /g;s/%\(..\)/\\x\1/g;')"

January

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 241

1This should be the default answer. – Jeanno – 2017-04-20T02:42:51.020

1Your idea regarding copying a part of the URL is extremely helpful! (especially because on my FF v50.0, the about:config setting did not change anything). Regarding the second option you wrote, Is there a command for Windows users too? – spaceman – 2017-07-01T09:33:15.703

12

It's not rubbish, it's URL encoded. However here's the trick:
You can edit the URL in the address bar (by adding and then removing a character), and the copy-pasting should preserve the encoding.

m4573r

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 5 051

Interesting "trick". Seems to work in Firefox v.32, however unfortunately not in Chromium v.37 (~ Google Chrome). Or does it? – nutty about natty – 2014-09-09T13:28:05.123

@nuttyaboutnatty works for me in Chromium 76. – Ruslan – 2019-10-15T13:32:18.213

Why the downvote? oO – m4573r – 2012-09-28T08:56:53.317

3

Use this key sequence to copy UTF-8 URL: 

Ctrl-L, Home(or End), Space(or a letter/symbol), Backspace, Ctrl-L, Ctrl-C

julthep

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 31

1Also works for Chrome. – Vlastimil Ovčáčík – 2017-10-28T08:42:06.377

2

  1. Copy the URL from the address bar

  2. Paste it here.

  3. Press the Decode button.

  4. Copy the decoded URL and use it elsewhere.

Karan

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 51 857

3Too complex to just copy the URL by Ctrl+L, Ctrl+C without touching the pointing device. – Aleksey F. – 2016-09-09T07:06:47.143

1

firefox quantum 62.0

about:config

browser.urlbar.decodeURLsOnCopy: true

illucent

Posted 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Reputation: 21

Asked: 2012-09-28T07:46:30.983

Viewed: 6 307 times

Active: 2018-09-17T17:12:52.797