6.10.1 @url Examples

First, here is an example of the simplest form of @url, with just one argument. The given url is both the target and the visible text of the link:

The official GNU ftp site is @url{http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu}.

produces:

The official GNU ftp site is http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu.

Two-argument form of @url

Here is an example of the two-argument form:

The official @url{http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu, GNU ftp site}
holds programs and texts.

which produces:

The official GNU ftp site
holds programs and texts.

that is, the Info (and TeX, etc.) output is this:

The official GNU ftp site (http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu)
holds programs and texts.

while the HTML output is this:

The official <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu">GNU ftp site</a>
holds programs and texts.

Three-argument form of @url

Finally, an example of the three-argument form:

The @url{/man.cgi/1/ls,,ls} program …

which, except for HTML, produces:

The ls program …

but with HTML:

The <a href="/man.cgi/1/ls">ls</a> program …

By the way, some people prefer to display urls in the unambiguous format:

<URL:http://host/path>

You can use this form in the input file if you wish. We feel it’s not necessary to include the ‘<URL:’ and ‘>’ in the output, since to be useful any software that tries to detect urls in text already has to detect them without the ‘<URL:’.