This document is obsolete. Please
refer to RFC 3986.
Network Working Group R. Hinden Request for Comments: 2732 Nokia Category: Standards Track B. Carpenter IBM L. Masinter AT&T December 1999
Format for Literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document defines the format for literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's for implementation in World Wide Web browsers. This format has been implemented in the IPv6 versions of several widely deployed browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Lynx. It is also intended to be used in the IPv6 version of the service location protocol.
This document incudes an update to the generic syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers defined in RFC 2396 [URL]. It defines a syntax for IPv6 addresses and allows the use of "[" and "]" within a URI explicitly for this reserved purpose.
The textual representation defined for literal IPv6 addresses in [ARCH] is not directly compatible with URL's. Both use ":" and "." characters as delimiters. This document defines the format for literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's for implementation in World Wide Web browsers. The goal is to have a format that allows easy "cut" and "paste" operations with a minimum of editing of the literal address.
Hinden, et al. Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 2732 IPv6 Literal Addresses in URL's December 1999
The format defined in this document has been implemented in the IPv6 versions of several widely deployed browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Lynx. It is also intended to be used in the IPv6 version of the service location protocol.
The keywords MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL, if and where they appear in this document, are to be interpreted as described in [KEYWORDS].
World Wide Web browsers SHOULD implement the format of IPv6 literals in URL's defined in this document. Other types of applications and protocols that use URL's MAY use this format.
To use a literal IPv6 address in a URL, the literal address should be enclosed in "[" and "]" characters. For example the following literal IPv6 addresses:
This document updates the generic syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers defined in RFC 2396 [URL]. It defines a syntax for IPv6 addresses and allows the use of "[" and "]" within a URI explicitly for this reserved purpose.
Hinden, et al. Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 2732 IPv6 Literal Addresses in URL's December 1999
The following changes to the syntax in RFC 2396 are made: (1) change the 'host' non-terminal to add an IPv6 option:
where IPv6address is defined as in RFC2373 [ARCH].
(2) Replace the definition of 'IPv4address' with that of RFC 2373, as it correctly defines an IPv4address as consisting of at most three decimal digits per segment.
(3) Add "[" and "]" to the set of 'reserved' characters:
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
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