Path.Combine for URLs?

Question

Path.Combine is handy, but is there a similar function in the .NET framework for URLs?

I\'m looking for syntax like this:

Url.Combine(\"http://MyUrl.         


        

Answer 1

If you don't want to add a third-party dependency such as Flurl or create a custom extension method, in ASP.NET Core (also available in Microsoft.Owin), you can use PathString which is intended for the purpose of building up URI paths. You can then create your full URI using a combination of this, Uri and UriBuilder.

In this case, it would be:

new Uri(new UriBuilder("http", "MyUrl.com").Uri, new PathString("/Images").Add("/Image.jpg").ToString())

This gives you all the constituent parts without having to specify the separators in the base URL. Unfortunately, PathString requires that / is prepended to each string otherwise it in fact throws an ArgumentException! But at least you can build up your URI deterministically in a way that is easily unit-testable.

Answer 2

Use:

    private Uri UriCombine(string path1, string path2, string path3 = "", string path4 = "")
    {
        string path = System.IO.Path.Combine(path1, path2.TrimStart('\\', '/'), path3.TrimStart('\\', '/'), path4.TrimStart('\\', '/'));
        string url = path.Replace('\\','/');
        return new Uri(url);
    }

It has the benefit of behaving exactly like Path.Combine.

Answer 3

Based on the sample URL you provided, I'm going to assume you want to combine URLs that are relative to your site.

Based on this assumption I'll propose this solution as the most appropriate response to your question which was: "Path.Combine is handy, is there a similar function in the framework for URLs?"

Since there the is a similar function in the framework for URLs I propose the correct is: "VirtualPathUtility.Combine" method. Here's the MSDN reference link: VirtualPathUtility.Combine Method

There is one caveat: I believe this only works for URLs relative to your site (that is, you cannot use it to generate links to another web site. For example, var url = VirtualPathUtility.Combine("www.google.com", "accounts/widgets");).

Answer 4

There is a Todd Menier's comment above that Flurl includes a Url.Combine.

More details:

Url.Combine is basically a Path.Combine for URLs, ensuring one and only one separator character between parts:

var url = Url.Combine(
    "http://MyUrl.com/",
    "/too/", "/many/", "/slashes/",
    "too", "few?",
    "x=1", "y=2"
// result: "http://www.MyUrl.com/too/many/slashes/too/few?x=1&y=2" 

Get Flurl.Http on NuGet:

PM> Install-Package Flurl.Http

Or get the stand-alone URL builder without the HTTP features:

PM> Install-Package Flurl

Answer 5

You use Uri.TryCreate( ... ) :

Uri result = null;

if (Uri.TryCreate(new Uri("http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/"), "/en-us/library/system.uri.trycreate.aspx", out result))
{
    Console.WriteLine(result);
}

Will return:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.uri.trycreate.aspx

Answer 6

This may be a suitably simple solution:

public static string Combine(string uri1, string uri2)
{
    uri1 = uri1.TrimEnd('/');
    uri2 = uri2.TrimStart('/');
    return string.Format("{0}/{1}", uri1, uri2);
}