---
title: Percent-encoding | Paperform Help Center | Paperform
description: Some characters cause a URL to break. In these instances, you may use percent-encoding to keep the same data in the URL and also keep it safe.
url: "https://paperform.co/help/articles/percent-encoding"
type: static
generatedAt: "2026-04-04T00:42:02.780Z"
---

Percent-encoding
### Configuring Behavior

## What is percent-encoding?

URLs do not permit certain characters to be included in them. If you do include them, the URL may break and won't operate in the expected manner.

Data you have (including answers from the form) may include those characters, and you need a way to be able to use them safely in URLs (e.g. [pre-filling](https://paperform.co/help/articles/pre-filling-guide/)). To achieve that, we can use something called *percent-encoding*, where a code represents a character, preceded by a `%`.

Let's look at an example of using percent-encoding.

 - **Original pre-fill URL**

```
https://example.paperform.co?email=support@paperform.co
```
 - **Altered URL using percent-encoding**

```
https://example.paperform.co?email=support%40paperform.co
```

Above, we used `%40` to replace the `@` in the URL. This is one of many substitutes we can apply to ensure the URL is safe to use and can operate correctly.

## Character codes

Here are some more examples of supported codes:

| Character | Code | Character | Code | Character | Code |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| space | %20 | ) | %29 | = | %3D |
| ! | %21 | * | %2A | > | %3E |
| " | %22 | + | %2B | ? | %3F |
| # | %23 | , | %2C | @ | %40 |
| $ | %24 | - | %2D | [ | %5B |
| % | %25 | / | %2F | \ | %5C |
| & | %26 | : | %3A | ] | %5D |
| ' | %27 | ; | %3B | ` | %60 |
| ( | %28 | < | %3C | £ | %A3 |

## Percent-encoder tool

You can use our percent-encoder tool to quickly convert any values into their URL-friendly counterparts. Type the full value (like "John Smith" or "john@example.com") to see its percent-encoded version (like "John%20Smith" or "john%40example.com").