URLs vs URI
These two terms — URI and URL — are often used together, but there is a key difference between them.
A URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) is a general identifier for a resource. It identifies a resource but does not necessarily tell you how to locate it. There are two main types of URIs:
- URL (Uniform Resource Locator) — identifies a resource and provides the means to locate it.
- URN (Uniform Resource Name) — identifies a resource only, without giving location details.
Think of it this way: a URI is like a person’s name or ID only, while a URL is like a person’s full information(name, ID), including their address.
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For example, consider this URL:
https://hello-dummy.cat.xyz/api/cat/v3/cat-details/6582af1ee626c13db73abbc4
Breaking it down:
https://hello-dummy.cat.xyz– This is the base location where the data resides. By itself, this cannot be considered a full URL because it does not specify the identity of the resource./api/cat/v3/cat-details/6582af1ee626c13db73abbc4– This part identifies the specific resource at the base location. Conceptually, this can be seen as a URI or even a URN.- To be called a complete URL both URI and base url should combine to identify the resouce at the particular location
Key takeaway: All URLs are URIs, but not all URIs are URLs.
Now the question arise which URIs can be considered URL in some case?
if a URI contain enough information to locate the particular resouce then it can be considered as url
