make short url have whitespaces in it (example.com/my files.zip)

[ghost]

How would i make it so YOURLS can understand links like https://example.com/ my files.zip ?

I know it'd be %20 but as far as i can see creating a short url link just deletes the space and it wont recognize it.

[dgw]

This is plugin territory and should be quite simple. A charset modification example for hyphens (-) ships as part of YOURLS: https://github.com/YOURLS/YOURLS/blob/master/user/plugins/hyphens-in-urls/plugin.php

Forward slash and full stop have third party solutions listed in the Awesome List (though both are marked as archived, I've looked at the code and there's no apparent reason why they wouldn't still work).

[ghost]

I attempted what you said but no dice.

1. plugin is enabled (bold signify this)
2. modified hyphen one to allow space, but I'm assuming I did something wrong
3. I attached code in case it'd help

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Allow Space in Short URLs
 * Plugin URI: http://yourls.org/
 * Description: Allow space in short URLs (like <tt>http://sho.rt/hello-world</tt>)
 * Version: 1.1
 * Author: Ozh
 * Author URI: http://ozh.org/
 */

// No direct call
if( !defined( 'YOURLS_ABSPATH' ) ) die();

// Add space to the allowed character set
yourls_add_filter( 'get_shorturl_charset', 'ozh_space_in_charset' );
// Unless we are crafting a random keyword
yourls_add_action('add_new_link_create_keyword', function() {yourls_remove_filter('get_shorturl_charset', 'ozh_space_in_charse>

function ozh_space_in_charset( $in ) {
        return $in.' ';
}

[ghost]

i just decided to go with another route. A dirty little edit from the plugin yourls-case-insensitive i just made it strip %20 from the URL it receives ($keyword = str_replace('%20', '', $keyword))

[dgw]

I assume that the incorrect syntax (a long line ending in >) in your pasted code is due to copying it out of a terminal editor/pager. I've completed the cut-off line and tested it myself, finding that, indeed, is still removed from the custom keyword even when allowed by this very simple plugin, while a different special character like * or & works fine if added to the same return statement.

There seems to be some weirdness with how the admin panel (most likely its JavaScript) handles escaping certain characters. I've filed #3697 for something I found by accident along the way, and #3698 for what I think is directly affecting this use case.

Meanwhile, your workaround to just ignore %20 in the keyword during redirection is probably good enough for now. I'm glad you were able to find a way to get the functionality you wanted. 😸