URL class in Java with Examples

The URL class is the gateway to any of the resource available on internet. A Class URL represents a Uniform Resource Locator, which is a pointer to a “resource” on the World Wide Web. A resource can point to a simple file or directory, or it can refer to a more complicated object, such as a query to a database or to a search engine

What is a URL?
As many of you must be knowing that Uniform Resource Locator-URL is a string of text that identifies all the resources on Internet, telling us the address of the resource, how to communicate with it and retrieve something from it.

A Simple URL looks like:

Components of a URL:-
A URL can have many forms. The most general however follows three-components system-

1. Protocol: HTTP is the protocol here
2. Hostname: Name of the machine on which the resource lives.
3. File Name: The path name to the file on the machine.
4. Port Number: Port number to which to connect (typically optional).

Some constructors for URL class:-

1. URL(String address) throws MalformedURLException: It creates a URL object from the specified String.
2. URL(String protocol, String host, String file): Creates a URL object from the specified protcol, host, and file name.
3. URL(String protocol, String host, int port, String file): Creates a URL object from protocol, host, port and file name.
4. URL(URL context, String spec): Creates a URL object by parsing the given spec in the given context.
5. URL(String protocol, String host, int port, String file, URLStreamHandler handler):-
   Creates a URL object from the specified protocol, host, port number, file, and handler.
6. URL(URL context, String spec, URLStreamHandler handler):-
   Creates a URL by parsing the given spec with the specified handler within a specified context.

Sample Program:

Output:

https://www.google.co.in/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=ptYqWK26I4fT8gfth6CACg#q=geeks+for+geeks+java
https://tutorialspoint.dev/slugresolver/jvm-works-jvm-architecture/

Different components of the URL3-
Protocol:- https
Hostname:- www.google.co.in
Default port:- 443
Query:- q=gnu&rlz=1C1CHZL_enIN714IN715&oq=gnu&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l5.653j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Path:- /search
File:- /search?q=gnu&rlz=1C1CHZL_enIN714IN715&oq=gnu&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l5.653j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Reference:- q=geeks+for+geeks+java

Explanation of some methods used in above program are as follows:-

1. public String toString(): As in any class, toString() returns the string representation of the given URL object.
2. public String getAuthority(): returns the authority part of URL or null if empty.
3. public String getPath(): returns the path of the URL, or null if empty.
4. public String getQuery(): returns the query part of URL. Query is the the part after the ‘?’ in the URL. Whenever logic is used to display the result, there would be a query field in URL. It is similar to querying a database.
5. public String getHost(): return the hostname of the URL in IPv6 format.
6. public String getFile(): returns the file name.
7. public String getRef(): Returns the reference of the URL object. Usually the reference is the part marked by a ‘#’ in the URL. You can see the working exaple by querying anything on google and seeing the part after ‘#’.
8. public int getPort(): returns the port associated with the protocol specified by the URL.
9. public int getDefaultPort: returns the default port used.
10. public String getProtocol(): returns the protocol used by the URL.

References
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/URL.html#getAuthority()

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