listed in the order in which they would be applied by the parser.

2.4.1.  Parsing the Fragment Identifier

   If the parse string contains a crosshatch "#" character, then the
   substring after the first (left-most) crosshatch "#" and up to the
   end of the parse string is the  identifier.  If the
   crosshatch is the last character, or no crosshatch is present, then
   the fragment identifier is empty.  The matched substring, including
   the crosshatch character, is removed from the parse string before
   continuing.

   Note that the fragment identifier is not considered part of the URL.
   However, since it is often attached to the URL, parsers must be able
   to recognize and set aside fragment identifiers as part of the
   process.

2.4.2.  Parsing the Scheme

   If the parse string contains a colon ":" after the first character
   and before any characters not allowed as part of a scheme name (i.e.,
   any not an alphanumeric, plus "+", period ".", or hyphen "-"), the
    of the URL is the substring of characters up to but not
   including the first colon.  These characters and the colon are then
   removed from the parse string before continuing.

2.4.3.  Parsing the Network Location/Login

   If the parse string begins with a double-slash "//", then the
   substring of characters after the double-slash and up to, but not
   including, the next slash "/" character is the network location/login
   () of the URL.  If no trailing slash "/" is present, the
   entire remaining parse string is assigned to .  The double-
   slash and  are removed from the parse string before




 
RFC 1808           Relative Uniform Resource Locators          June 1995


   continuing.

2.4.4.  Parsing the Query Information

   If the parse string contains a question mark "?" character, then the
   substring after the first (left-most) question mark "?" and up to the
   end of the parse string is the  information.  If the question
   mark is the last character, or no question mark is present, then the
   query information is empty.  The matched substring, including the
   question mark character, is removed from the parse string before
   continuing.

2.4.5.  Parsing the Parameters

   If the parse string contains a semicolon ";" character, then the
   substring after the first (left-most) semicolon ";" and up to the end
   of the parse string is the parameters ().  If the semicolon
   is the last character, or no semicolon is present, then  is
   empty.  The matched substring, including the semicolon character, is
   removed from the parse string before continuing.

2.4.6.  Parsing the Path

   After the above steps, all that is left of the parse string is the
   URL  and the slash "/" that may precede it.  Even though the
   initial slash is not part of the URL path, the parser must remember
   whether or not it was present so that later processes can
   differentiate between relative and absolute paths.  Often this is
   done by simply storing the preceding slash along with the path.

3.  Establishing a Base URL

   The term "relative URL" implies that there exists some absolute "base
   URL" against which the relative reference is applied.  Indeed, the
   base URL is necessary to define the semantics of any embedded
   relative URLs; without it, a relative reference is meaningless.  In
   order for relative URLs to be usable within a document, the base URL
   of that document must be known to the parser.














 
RFC 1808           Relative Uniform Resource Locators          June 1995


   The base URL of a document can be established in one of four ways,
   listed below in order of precedence.  The order of precedence can be