Escaping @ character in password

Question

I'm trying to make an authenticated request using java's URL object. The problem is that I have the @ symbol in my password (changing it is not an option right now), so when java tries the url.getUserInfo() it stops at the @ in the password and screws up my request. I tried escaping it with %40 but from what I see in debug mode it sees it as just %40 and not as an @ character.

Example: http://user:p@ss@stackoverflow.com will take the userinfo as user:p

It's a failure in the URL scheme to account for this particular scenario. There's absolutely nothing you can do. — PP., Oct 30 '13 at 12:35

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 31 '13 at 09:07

Rather than putting the username and password in the URL, you could register an Authenticator that is able to provide the credentials when required.

Authenticator.setDefault(new Authenticator() {
  protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
    if("stackoverflow.com".equals(getRequestingHost()) {
      return new PasswordAuthentication("user", "p@ss".toCharArray());
    } else {
      return null;
    }
  }
});

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 31 '13 at 08:52

0

?os_username=user&os_password=p@ss this is what I found works as an alternative so your request will be authenticated and look like this:
http://stackoverflow.com/stuff?os_username=user&os_password=p@ss

answered Oct 31 '13 at 08:52

Schadenfreude

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Escaping @ character in password

2 Answers2