Restore support for semicolons in URL query strings?

[Bert Bos]

Since a few weeks (I'm not exactly sure how long), URLs with a semicolon to separate the query parameters, such as

  http://www.openstreetmap.org/index.html?mlat=43.6969;mlon=7.1224

do not work anymore.

That's a pity, because the semicolon is easier if you're working with HTML or XML and want to cut and paste a URL: no need to replace every "&" with "&" or vice-versa. HTML recommends[1] the semicolon precisely for that reason.

It's true that the semicolon has never been documented on the OSM Web site, but it is supported by the standard CGI library in Ruby, so it seemed safe to use in OSM URLs...

I'm not sure, but the change might have to do with this patch:

https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/commit/d9d515bf18e85f02c0d11571e298586a90003d77

I couldn't find a discussion of the change in the mail archives. If there is no strong reason to forbid the semicolon, could it be restored?


[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/appendix/notes.html#h-B.2.2



Bert

PS. If the semicolon is restored, it would also be nice if the "Permalink" anchor used it, so that the link can be pasted directly into HTML.

-- 
  Bert Bos                                ( W 3 C ) http://www.w3.org/
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