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Custom Searches With Full Url as the Query


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I'm trying to make a custom web search for the Wayback Machine. The query looks like this

https://web.archive.org/web/*/{query}

where {query} is a full URL from the clipboard. The problem is that Alfred changes the special characters into %2F and such so that the resulting search URL looks like:

https://web.archive.org/web/*/http%3A%2F%2Fexamplecom%2F

Is this solvable, or will I need a workflow of some sort?

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Hmm, interesting.  I'm not sure how Alfred handles the URL for searches, but in my testing it looks like you will have to convert the characters first in a workflow, or at least remove the first "http://" with parsing ... because "example.com" works ok.

 

This MAY be a feature request for Alfred ... to internally parse out those characters

Edited by RodgerWW
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Instead of using the Open URL action, use a Run Script action (language = bash) with:

 

open "https://web.archive.org/web/*/{query}"
It Just Works™.

Alfred is between a rock and hard place here, as some (most?) websites expect {query} to be properly URL-encode, while others choke on such URLs.

The fundamental issue is, unless {query} is the entire URL, Alfred treats {query} as the value to a GET parameter (e.g. http://www.example.com/?argument={query}). If {query} is actually part of the URL path (e.g. http://www.example.com/{query}/new), this will break on most browsers. Some are smart enough to realise when a URL-encoded string is part of the URL path, not the query string, but most aren't.

Alfred should probably have a checkbox to turn URL-encoding on/off.

Edited by deanishe
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