Re: URL syntax

[John Denker <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 11:35 PM 10/4/99 -0400, Bob Sciamanda wrote:
> >                       http://www.dupont.com/afs/nfeatures.htm/
>
> Strange! I could not get to the above URL until I erased the final slash
> (/) .  Then it worked OK.  I am using MS OE5 and IE5.  Anybody understand
> these weirdities?  (I have reached other URLs with a final slash.)

It's not a bug it's a feature.

What you're seeing is the difference between a directory and a plain file.
   http://www.dupont.com/afs/
is the URL of a directory, while
   http://www.dupont.com/afs/nfeatures.htm
is the URL of a plain file in that directory.

When you request a directory, the result depends on how the web server is
configured.
 * Sometimes you get an error.
 * Sometimes you get a listing of all the files in that directory;  for
example check out
    http://www.faa.gov/avr/afs/
 * Oftentimes, if there is a file in the directory called index.html or
index.htm, you will get that;  for example check out
     http://www.dupont.com/afs/index.htm

If you request a directory without specifying the final slash, typically
the web server will rewrite the URL and tell your browser to resubit the
request.  Try it sometime.

______________________________________________________________
copyright (C) 1999 John S. Denker             jsd@monmouth.com