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Asked: 2026-05-18T07:38:44+00:00

This https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.uri.query.aspx and this https://ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt suggest that the .Net Uri class does not recognize

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This https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.uri.query.aspx and this https://ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt suggest that the .Net Uri class does not recognize the semicolon as an acceptable character to represent a query in a URL.

This only requires one line or so to workaround, but I like my code clean. If there is a solution that allows me to not do string parsing myself outside the .Net set of Uri classes, I’d prefer that. Is there any existing .Net code that handles semicolons for recognizing them as part of a query in a URL?

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  1. Editorial Team

    RFC 3986 agrees with RFC 1738 (which it updates) in defining the query as a portion following a question mark (?), and in stating that a semicolon can be used to separate parameter-value pairs “applicable to that segment”.

    In a prospero URI (the only case given in RFC 1738 where a semicolon is shown used) semicolons indicate a parameter and parameter value in the path of the URI – not a query.

    HTTP URIs do have semicolons used in their queries, but only after the ?, e.g. http://example.net/search?q=something;page=2. Unfortunately actual usage has never quite replaced the & character for this function and it is poorly supported by server-side code (including ASP.NET) which limits the ability of client-side code to adopt it (pretty much no browser does).

    Still, In such cases the .NET Uri object correctly identifies only that portion following the ? as a query, including semicolons if present. Its behaviour is correct.

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