# Strange URL format via Template node // = //

**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/strange-url-format-via-template-node-x2f-x2f/11881
**Category:** General
**Created:** [5 June 2019 16:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/strange-url-format-via-template-node-x2f-x2f/11881 "2019-06-05T16:10:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![nodecentral](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/nodecentral/32/10432_2.png) [@nodecentral](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/nodecentral)
#### Post date: [5 June 2019 16:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/strange-url-format-via-template-node-x2f-x2f/11881/1 "2019-06-05T16:10:32Z")

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Hi

I’m trying to build a dynamic URL from a few payloads, but for some reason the resulting first part of the address looks encoded, yet the template output should be plain text?

Here’s the flow which has the PollyURL function written like this.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/2X/9/9359fd8214f1e1a18892d14181d9edd9bcbdb4c8.jpeg)

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/2X/d/d701a8e0861c29cab64b468f182e0d60f734077e.jpeg)

Here’s the contents of the template node

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/2X/7/772de67eed43f0d6c3ddd5589cef89aa148d183f.jpeg)

And here’s the resulting URL that’s built

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/2X/6/621cdfce5d79979a1079c05ee00768b260c33e97.jpeg)

Any idea why the forward slashes // would be converted ?

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### Author: ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)
#### Post date: [5 June 2019 16:24 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/strange-url-format-via-template-node-x2f-x2f/11881/2 "2019-06-05T16:24:13Z")

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That is encoded. It is the URL encoded version of "/".

[http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/sidehtmlentity.html](http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/sidehtmlentity.html)

In short, it shouldn't be like that since "/" is a legitimate character in that section of the URI.

But, because it has been converted to a string, I suspect that it has been urlencoded.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![nodecentral](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/nodecentral/32/10432_2.png) [@nodecentral](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/nodecentral)
#### Post date: [5 June 2019 16:29 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/strange-url-format-via-template-node-x2f-x2f/11881/3 "2019-06-05T16:29:42Z")

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Thanks @TotallyInformation

Using some more debug nodes, I can see it passes fine and completely unaltered through both the Function and the Split nodes, but for some reason the Template node converts/encode it , and just the forward slashes - the full stop/period and colon are untouched ?

Is that a known bug in the software then ?

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### Author: ![ukmoose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ukmoose/32/13_2.png) [@ukmoose](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ukmoose)
#### Post date: [5 June 2019 17:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/strange-url-format-via-template-node-x2f-x2f/11881/4 "2019-06-05T17:13:53Z")

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No it’s standard moustache syntax.

If you don’t want it to convert you need to use. {{{ }}}

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![nodecentral](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/nodecentral/32/10432_2.png) [@nodecentral](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/nodecentral)
#### Post date: [5 June 2019 19:52 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/strange-url-format-via-template-node-x2f-x2f/11881/5 "2019-06-05T19:52:39Z")

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Wow, thanks @ukmoose that did the trick ! - but I'm still being a little confused ... ?

1. Does that mean everything passed via a Template node is encoded ?
2. If so, why were only the forward slashes converted, and not the full stop/period and the colon ?