# Changing default word separator in URLs?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/changing-default-word-separator-in-urls/97006>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [July 4, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/changing-default-word-separator-in-urls/97006 "2006-07-04T06:33:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![davidstokar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@davidstokar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/davidstokar)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/changing-default-word-separator-in-urls/97006/1 "2006-07-04T06:33:24Z")

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At the moment, if you put a string into parameters in a URL Rails will  
delimit them using +

E.g. The title of a page might be “My Great New Page”, Rails maps it  
nicely onto [应用宝官网-全网最新最热手机应用游戏下载](http://myapp.com/My+Great+New+Page) - and then handles this when  
used at the destination action.

Does anyone know if the + character can be swapped for a hypen -, a  
plugin or custom function that overrides the Rails function would be  
ideal. Google seems to regard a hypen as a word separator thus making  
the URLs a little bit more search engine friendly.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![davidstokar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@davidstokar](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/davidstokar)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/changing-default-word-separator-in-urls/97006/2 "2006-07-05T21:00:35Z")

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On Jul 4, 2006, at 12:33 AM, David S. wrote:

> the URLs a little bit more search engine friendly.  
> The ‘+’ is the CGI-escaped version of a space (aka, %20). I don’t  
> think you’ll be able to change this. From a search-engine  
> perspective, however, the , the and the tags  
> are just as (if not more) important as the URL.

-Rob

Rob B. [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com)  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid