URL: /rules/url/special-chars

---
title: "URL Special Characters"
description: "Checks for problematic special characters in URL path"
---

Checks for problematic special characters in URL path

| | |
|---|---|
| **Rule ID** | `url/special-chars` |
| **Category** | [URL Structure](/rules/url) |
| **Scope** | Per-page |
| **Severity** | warning |
| **Weight** | 4/10 |

## Solution

Avoid special characters in URL paths. Characters like %, &, #, ?, = have special meanings and can cause issues. Spaces should be avoided (they become %20). Use only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. Special characters can break links when copied, cause encoding issues, and look unprofessional. URL-encode if unavoidable.

## Enable / Disable

### Disable this rule

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
disable = ["url/special-chars"]
```

### Disable all URL Structure rules

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
disable = ["url/*"]
```

### Enable only this rule

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
enable = ["url/special-chars"]
disable = ["*"]
```