Uniform Resource Identifier - Relationship To URL and URN

Relationship To URL and URN

URIs can be classified as locators (URLs), as names (URNs), or as both. A uniform resource name (URN) functions like a person's name, while a uniform resource locator (URL) resembles that person's street address. In other words: the URN defines an item's identity, while the URL provides a method for finding it.

The ISBN system for uniquely identifying books provides a typical example of the use of URNs. ISBN 0-486-27557-4 (urn:isbn:0-486-27557-4) cites, unambiguously, a specific edition of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. To gain access to this object and read the book, one needs its location: a URL address. A typical URL for this book on a Unix-like operating system would be a file path such as file:///home/username/books/, identifying the electronic book library saved on a local hard disk. So URNs and URLs have complementary purposes.

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Famous quotes containing the words relationship to and/or relationship:

    Sometimes in our relationship to another human being the proper balance of friendship is restored when we put a few grains of impropriety onto our own side of the scale.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    Sometimes in our relationship to another human being the proper balance of friendship is restored when we put a few grains of impropriety onto our own side of the scale.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)