In search of the perfect URL validation regex (2010)
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2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderEven if you built a URL validation regex that follows rfc3986[1] and rfc3987[2], you will still get user bug reports because web browsers follow a different standard. For example, <http://example.com./> , <http:///example.com/> and <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space (punctuation)> are classified as invalid urls in the blog, but they are accepted in the browser. As the creator of cURL puts it, there is no URL standard[3]. [1]: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt [2]: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3987.txt [3]…
Why are these in the `should fail' section? http://www.foo.bar./ http://10.1.1.1 http://10.1.1.254 http://10.1.1.0 http://10.1.1.255 The top one is just a fully qualified domain name, and the rest could be valid host addresses depending on your subnet size.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 253
- Total comments
- 141
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-02-02 | In search of the perfect URL validation regex | airnomad | 3 | 0 |
| 2015-07-09 | In search of the perfect URL validation regex (2010) | Jonhoo | 1 | 0 |
| 2015-08-06 | In search of the perfect URL validation regexFirst breakout | edward | 97 | 77 |
| 2021-09-25 | In search of the perfect URL validation regex (2010)Best thread · Latest 20+ point return | Jonhoo | 152 | 64 |