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Possible Duplicate:
Getting percent sign into an URL in a footnote

In reference to this question: Getting percent sign into an URL in a footnote

I'm using the url package and am still having trouble getting the % symbol to display right in footnotes. If I enter the URL address as is, I get error messages, but if I insert backslashes (replacing % with \%) the backslashes show up in the text. Any ideas on how to get the percent symbol to display properly?

Community
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twofeet
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  • Please provide an example of what you've done/attempted in the form of a minimal working example (MWE) that illustrates your problem. When I compile the MWE in your linked post, the % shows up as expected. – Werner Jan 26 '12 at 21:42
  • Thanks. So I have:

    \footnote{\url{http://web.mac.com%3A5%3A11.pdf}.}

    And the backslashes show up in the text. If I don't put them in, it won't even compile because everything after the first % gets treated as comment text.

     – twofeet Jan 26 '12 at 21:44
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    Note that the linked example uses \urldef\myurl\url{web.mac.com\%3A5\%3A11.pdf} and then \footnote{\myurl} and not the nested \footnote{\url{...}} notation. – Werner Jan 26 '12 at 21:51
  • OK, that works. I didn't think it would compile with that definition of \myurl, since part of it shows up as comment text in my editor. But it does work. Thanks! – twofeet Jan 26 '12 at 21:56

2 Answers2

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The only safe way to use URLs containing special characters such as % in footnotes is via \urldef:

\urldef{\webmaccom}\url{web.mac.com%3A5%3A11.pdf} % in the preamble

\footnote{\webmaccom} % in the document
egreg
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  • Thanks. I'd like to vote these answers up but now that I've registered I'm not getting "credit" for this question. Is there a way to tell the system that I asked this question? (I'm only able to write this comment because I registered using another browser.) – twofeet Jan 26 '12 at 23:55
  • The question will be closed as duplicate; you should register on the site, in order to be able to upvote and comment. Then a moderator can merge your registered account with the unregistered one. – egreg Jan 26 '12 at 23:59
  • OK. How do I get a moderator to merge my accounts? – twofeet Jan 27 '12 at 00:02
  • I will flag your question to make them aware. – egreg Jan 27 '12 at 00:08
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Every editor is different. For example, even in this answer, the formatting may seem incorrect:

\urldef\myurl\url{web.mac.com%3A5%3A11.pdf}

But, the compiler will in interpret this correctly. Since URLs typically have strange (or special) characters in them, people are also inclined to use \verb|web.mac.com%3A5%3A11.pdf|. However, verbatim content is known to be problematic when passed as an argument. As such, you need to resort to using packages like fancyvrb for appropriate passing.

Werner
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  • Thanks, yeah, verbatim seemed dangerous. And again, it was surprising that something that showed up as commentary in my front-matter still compiled. – twofeet Jan 26 '12 at 23:45
  • @twofeet: As mentioned, the editor has no indication of the compiled output, which is dependent on category codes. – Werner Jan 26 '12 at 23:49