How to Use PHP rawurldecode() to Decode URL‑Encoded Strings

When developing web applications, special characters in URLs must be encoded, and sometimes you need to decode them back to their original form. PHP offers a set of functions for URL encoding and decoding, among which rawurldecode() is used to decode strings that were encoded with urlencode() .

The syntax of rawurldecode() is:

string rawurldecode ( string $str )

Here $str is the URL‑encoded string to be decoded, and the function returns the decoded string.

Below is a practical example that demonstrates how to use rawurldecode() :

<?php
$url = "https%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2F%3Fq%3D%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%B9%E6%B1%89%E5%AD%97"; // URL encoded with urlencode()

$decodedUrl = rawurldecode($url);

echo $decodedUrl;
?>

In this script, a URL that has been encoded by urlencode() is stored in $url . The rawurldecode() function then decodes it, and the result is printed with echo . Running the code outputs:

https://www.example.com/?q=добрый汉字

The output shows that the encoded URL has been successfully restored to its original form, including Unicode characters.

It is important to note that rawurldecode() only decodes the special characters defined by the URL encoding standard; it does not process other characters that may appear in query parameters. If you need to decode an entire URL, including plus signs (+) that represent spaces, you should use the urldecode() function instead.

In summary, rawurldecode() is a convenient PHP function for decoding URLs that were encoded with urlencode() , helping developers correctly handle URL parameters during web development.