Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now! Learn more

Reply
pramita
Helper II
Helper II

How to decode URL component using M Language?

I have a column with links in it, I need to decode it. The links are encoded, in %s as shown below

pramita_0-1595717528865.png

For example:  https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rnd.de%2Fpanorama%2Fzwei-flugzeuge-stossen-im-munsterland-zusammen-beide-piloten-tot-YDHGMRPATRCUBC6SCDD27TSQRU.html

should be decoded to 
https://www.rnd.de/panorama/zwei-flugzeuge-stossen-im-munsterland-zusammen-beide-piloten-tot-YDHGMRP... 

 

I found a solution here: 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36242695/how-to-decodeuricomponent-ex-2f3f263d

 

But I am very new to M code so I don't know where I'm going wrong. But it gives me this error

 
 

 

This is the code I have written

 

let
InputData = Excel.Workbook(File.Contents("C:\Users\Fatima\Downloads\Microsoft.SkypeApp_kzf8qxf38zg5c!App\All\encoded-URLs.xlsx"), null, true),
Uri.UnescapeDataString = (data as text) as text => let
ToList = Text.ToList(data),
Accumulate = List.Accumulate(ToList, [ Bytes = {} ], (state, current) =>
let
HexString = state[HexString]?,
NextHexString = HexString & current,
NextState = if HexString <> null
then if Text.Length(NextHexString) = 2
then [ Bytes = state[Bytes] & Binary.ToList(Binary.FromText(NextHexString, BinaryEncoding.Hex)) ]
else [ HexString = NextHexString, Bytes = state[Bytes] ]
else if current = "%"
then [ HexString = "", Bytes = state[Bytes] ]
else [ Bytes = state[Bytes] & { Character.ToNumber(current) } ]
in
NextState),
FromBinary = Text.FromBinary(Binary.FromList(Accumulate[Bytes]))
in
FromBinary,

AddEscaped = Table.AddColumn(InputData, "Escaped", each Uri.EscapeDataString([Column1])),

AddUnescaped = Table.AddColumn(AddEscaped, "Custom", each Uri.UnescapeDataString([Escaped]))
in
AddUnescaped

 

Can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong?

2 REPLIES 2
AllisonKennedy
Super User
Super User

Not quite as elegant as decoding, but you could simply select the column, then do a replace values to find:
%2F
and replace with:
/
And do that again for
%3A
and replace with:
:

Please @mention me in your reply if you want a response.

Copying DAX from this post? Click here for a hack to quickly replace it with your own table names

Has this post solved your problem? Please Accept as Solution so that others can find it quickly and to let the community know your problem has been solved.
If you found this post helpful, please give Kudos C

I work as a Microsoft trainer and consultant, specialising in Power BI and Power Query.
www.excelwithallison.com

lbendlin
Super User
Super User

Don't forget that there is always the brute force method. After all there are not that many encoded characters in the majority of URLs.

 

You can extend the below to also cover ? and & and space.

 

let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("DYjLCsIwEAD/pdDj5lBBz7VFvQjax0FKD5GsbSCbhGZDIF9vYA4zsyzVzuxDfWrr5lZIKYnDKqGwhJfWHZJk0ZxQw8/ELWPcEAK7ENCCJqBoA+NhpFWQY5BE5X9RKwSvjeNS7Bg+/eP+HF7tNHTztTuPXd83l2l8D7PYmUy1rn8=", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),
    #"Replaced Value" = Table.ReplaceValue(Source,"%3A",":",Replacer.ReplaceText,{"Column1"}),
    #"Replaced Value1" = Table.ReplaceValue(#"Replaced Value","%2F","/",Replacer.ReplaceText,{"Column1"})
in
    #"Replaced Value1"

Helpful resources

Announcements
Power BI DataViz World Championships

Power BI Dataviz World Championships

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now!

December 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - December 2025

Check out the December 2025 Power BI Holiday Recap!

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.