# URL Stripper



## FordGT90Concept (Jul 16, 2012)

I got sick of Google giving me a link to a PDF file and adding all their tracking crap to the URL so, I threw this together to get just the URL to the PDF.  Basically, you put in an URL or a broken URL with hex characters in it (for example: %2F) and it either gives you the repaired URL or a list of arguments to choose from.  Clicking "Guesstimate" will cycle through arguments that contain an URL.  The cleaned up URL appears in the bottom text box.







Requires .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile or better.


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## entropy13 (Jul 16, 2012)

How did you get that url in the first place? LOL

I searched for "health insurance and mortality in us adults" and the link I get for that pdf isn't like that.


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## Yo_Wattup (Jul 16, 2012)

I was totally thinking of something else... because of the thread title. I'll just be leaving now.


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## Frick (Jul 16, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> How did you get that url in the first place? LOL
> 
> I searched for "health insurance and mortality in us adults" and the link I get for that pdf isn't like that.



It appears to be the URL of the search, not the URL of the actual document.

EDIT: Wait no. I dunno.


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## entropy13 (Jul 16, 2012)

Frick said:


> It appears to be the URL of the search, not the URL of the actual document.
> 
> EDIT: Wait no. I dunno.



LOL, no it isn't. That's why you edited your post. 

And that's why I'm wondering how Ford got that url in the first place, since the simpler steps in getting the pdf doesn't produce that url.


Edit: Ah, he used the Google Search in some other website LOL.


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## Frick (Jul 16, 2012)

http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&rct=j...sg=AFQjCNHgf1UYQtjSHsuLqjkoYH8dlqZ1Gg&cad=rja

That's the URL if you open the link to the PDF in a new tab, so that would be it.

Could come in handy.


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## entropy13 (Jul 16, 2012)

Frick said:


> http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&rct=j...sg=AFQjCNHgf1UYQtjSHsuLqjkoYH8dlqZ1Gg&cad=rja
> 
> That's the URL if you open the link to the PDF in a new tab, so that would be it.
> 
> Could come in handy.



No, using the search function on pnhp.org itself only briefly flashes that google URL, but you still end up with the actual link for the pdf. Opening it in a new tab, I also come up with the direct url.

Maybe you just have out-of-date Adobe Acrobat plugins?


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## Frick (Jul 16, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> No, using the search function on pnhp.org itself only briefly flashes that google URL, but you still end up with the actual link for the pdf. Opening it in a new tab, I also come up with the direct url.



No it doesn't. That looks like this:
https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...ds-cse&usg=AFQjCNFlkTCVQbH2xaQir7aEeiIr88GNOg

On firefox, everything up to date and no Acrobat here.


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## entropy13 (Jul 16, 2012)

When I search in Google and click the link, I get this:
http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

When I search in Google and open the link in a new tab, I get this:
http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

When I search in pnhp.org itself and click the link, I get this:
http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

When I search in pnhp.org itself and open the link in a new tab, I get this:
http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

Although now it's "File not found".


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## Deleted member 3 (Jul 16, 2012)

When I type the word PDF in google I get these results, link seems clear enough?


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## Elmo (Jul 16, 2012)

Yo_Wattup said:


> I was totally thinking of something else... because of the thread title. I'll just be leaving now.



Same..


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## naoan (Jul 16, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> When I search in Google and click the link, I get this:
> http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf
> 
> When I search in Google and open the link in a new tab, I get this:
> ...



Right click those link on google search page and paste it here (but don't actually left click/open the link).


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 16, 2012)

All the links on Google to a site pass through Google so they can track the link you clicked.  If you open the link, it goes to Google for an instant, then to the target website.  Instead of opening the URL, you can copy that trackback URL into the stripper and extract the functioning URL from it.

I needed it for a PDF because there's no easy way to get the full address to the PDF once Acrobat opens it.  Either I was going to send everyone through Google to get to it or I was going to clean it up so people went directly to it.

This goes for all URLs inside of URLs, not just ones for Google/search sites.


Here is the full URL of the example in the screenshot:

```
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%22health%20insurance%20and%20mortality%20in%20u.s.%20adults%22&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CGkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpnhp.org%2Fexcessdeaths%2Fhealth-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf&ei=w54DUK-fNuiK2wX11oSUCw&usg=AFQjCNHgf1UYQtjSHsuLqjkoYH8dlqZ1Gg&url2=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.missouri.edu%2F~milyoj%2Ffiles%2FAJPH_Brief_Draft.pdf
```
I added the url2 argument for testing of "Guesstimate."


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## MT Alex (Jul 16, 2012)

That's why I try to use Startpage.  Problem solved.


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## bmaverick (Jul 17, 2012)

Yes, StartPage is a great tool to use ahead of Google. 

Also, if you are searching for a PDF file, type in the following in Google ... 

health insurance mortality us adults filetypeDF

health insurance mortality us adults filetypeOC

health insurance mortality us adults filetype:XLS

health insurance mortality us adults filetypePT

This works in both Google and StartPage 






.


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## mtosev (Jul 17, 2012)

Foxy can already do this






Time to drop IE Ford


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 17, 2012)

URL Stripper doesn't require you to open the URL to get the full path to it.  I can see that you opened it by the referrer pointing to Google.


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## Aquinus (Jul 17, 2012)

So why are you working extra hard just so Google doesn't keep track that a person (you in this case,) clicked a link? Technically clicking google's link so they can keep track of it helps Google provide a good search. What are you afraid of? Google knowing that a person click a link about x, y, and z? Google already knows what you searched for, so what good does playing ignorant about whatever search result you end up clicking make? Just a little baffled.


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## mtosev (Jul 17, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> URL Stripper doesn't require you to open the URL to get the full path to it.  I can see that you opened it by the referrer pointing to Google.


ok. but can IE do this like FF?


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 17, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> So why are you working extra hard just so Google doesn't keep track that a person (you in this case,) clicked a link? Technically clicking google's link so they can keep track of it helps Google provide a good search. What are you afraid of? Google knowing that a person click a link about x, y, and z? Google already knows what you searched for, so what good does playing ignorant about whatever search result you end up clicking make? Just a little baffled.


What looks better?  This:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...1oSUCw&usg=AFQjCNHgf1UYQtjSHsuLqjkoYH8dlqZ1Gg

Or this:
http://pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-and-mortality-in-US-adults.pdf

That's why I made it.


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## Aquinus (Jul 17, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> What looks better?  This:
> http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...1oSUCw&usg=AFQjCNHgf1UYQtjSHsuLqjkoYH8dlqZ1Gg
> 
> Or this:
> ...



When I click the Google link it redirects and gives me the second URL anyways. Was it giving you trouble or something? Granted, I use Chrome.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 17, 2012)

Yeah, IE9 downloads it, it doesn't open it in the browser so the original URL is lost.


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## FordGT90Concept (May 19, 2018)

1.0.1 uploaded.  1.0.0 would fail to work correctly if you tried pasting an URL once, and then pasting another URL without restarting the program. 1.0.1 fixed that bug so you can reuse it over and over.

1.0.2 uploaded which adds command line support.  If the first argument is an URL and it finds an URL inside, it will automatically copy it to the clipboard and not show the user interface.  If there's a problem, it will show the user interface with the first argument automatically inserted into the input text box.


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