Question

In ASP:

Server.URLEncode("+&(). -*<>/\|")
' returns %2B%26%28%29%2E+%2D%2A%3C%3E%2F%5C%7C

In ASP.NET

Uri.EscapeDataString("+&(). -*<>/\|")
// returns %2B%26().%20-*%3C%3E%2F%5C%7C

HttpUtility.UrlEncode("+&(). -*<>/\|") 
// returns %2b%26().+-*%3c%3e%2f%5c%7c

Is there any elegant way how to mimic old ASP behavior in ASP.NET?

Answer 1

You can use a regular expression to match the characters that you want to convert, and a lambda expression for creating the hex code:

string input = @"+&(). -*<>/\|";
string encoded = Regex.Replace(
  HttpUtility.UrlEncode(input),
  @"[()\.\-*]",
  m => "%" + Convert.ToString((int)m.Captures[0].Value[0], 16)
);