DOCUMENT:Q288116  20-JUL-2001  [frontpg]
TITLE   :FP98: Percent Sign in URL Returns HTTP 404 Error
PRODUCT :Word Front Page
PROD/VER::5,5.5
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kbdta

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft FrontPage 98 for Windows 
 - Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5, 5.5 for Windows NT 4.0 
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For a Microsoft FrontPage 2002 version of this article, see Q289624.

SYMPTOMS
========

When you try to browse a folder whose name contains a percent sign, you may
receive an error message similar to the following:

   HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found

CAUSE
=====

A percent sign defines an "escape sequence" in a Web address, as described in
section "2.4. Escape Sequences," in the Request for Comment (RFC) article number
2396.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Escape sequences are used in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to allow
characters that may appear in a folder or file name, but are not allowed in a
URL. The syntax for an escape sequence is defined as a percent sign, followed by
two hexadecimal digits, (for example, %A1, %2B, and so on).

When you name a folder to have a percent sign, if the characters following the
percent sign are valid hexadecimal characters, the folder name may not be
resolved correctly, for example:

 - A folder named 100%DAD may not work, because the two characters following the
   percent sign are valid hexadecimal characters. In this case, the "%DA"
   sequence may be misinterpreted as character 218, which, depending on the
   character set that is being used, may be a "Latin Capital U with Acute." This
   results in a Web request for a folder name that may not physically exist on
   the server.

 - A folder named 100%MOM may work, because the two characters following the
   percent sign are not valid hexadecimal characters.

Additional References
---------------------

For more information about this topic, please see the following Web sites:

   RFC 2396 (ftp://nis.nsf.net/internet/documents/rfc/rfc2396.txt) Uniform
   Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax

   RFC 2396 (ftp://nis.nsf.net/internet/documents/rfc/rfc2616.txt) Hypertext
   Transfer Protocol - HTTP/1.1

   Q284278 FP2000: Cannot Open a Subweb with an Ampersand Character in the Name

Additional query words: front page

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Keywords          : kbdta 
Technology        : kbIEsearch kbFrontPageSearch kbZNotKeyword4 kbZNotKeyword2 kbFrontPage98Search kbIENT400Search kbIE500Search kbZNotKeyword3 kbIE500WinNT400 kbIE550WinNT400 kbIE550Search
Version           : :5,5.5
Issue type        : kbprb

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