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| website = https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3986#section-1.1
}}
A '''Uniform Resource Identifier''' ('''URI'''), formerly '''Universal Resource Identifier''', is a unique sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource,{{Sfn|Berners-Lee, Tim; Fielding, Roy T.; Masinter, Larry|2005|p=1|ps=, "Abstract"}} such as resources on a webpage, mail address, phone number,{{Sfn|Berners-Lee, Tim; Fielding, Roy T.; Masinter, Larry|2005|p=7|ps=; "1.1.2. Examples", "1.1.3. URI, URL, and URN"}} books, real-world objects such as people and places, concepts.{{Sfn|Berners-Lee, Tim; Fielding, Roy T.Therefore, URLs are a subset of URIs, i.e. every URL is a URI (and not necessarily the other way around).{{Sfn|Berners-Lee, Tim; Fielding, Roy T.; Masinter, Larry|2005|p=57|ps=,; "Resource:1.1.2. the termExamples", "resource"1.1.3. is usedURI, inURL, aand generalURN"}} senseOther forURIs whateverprovide might be identified byonly a URI"}}unique URIsname, arewithout useda tomeans identifyof anythinglocating describedor usingretrieving the [[Resourceresource Descriptionor Framework]]information (RDF),about forit; example, concepts thatthese are part of an [[OntologyUniform (informationResource science)|ontologyName]]s defined(URNs). usingThe theweb [[Webtechnologies Ontologythat Language]]use (OWL), and people whoURIs are describednot usinglimited theto [[FOAFWeb (ontology)browser|Friendweb of a Friend vocabularybrowsers]] would each have an individual URI.
URIs which provide a means of locating and [[Information retrieval|retrieving]] information resources on a network (either on the Internet or on another private network, such as a computer filesystem or an [[Intranet]]) are [[Uniform Resource Locator]]s (URLs). Therefore, URLs are a subset of URIs, i.e. every URL is a URI (and not necessarily the other way around).{{Sfn|Berners-Lee, Tim; Fielding, Roy T.; Masinter, Larry|2005|p=7|ps=; "1.1.2. Examples", "1.1.3. URI, URL, and URN"}} Other URIs provide only a unique name, without a means of locating or retrieving the resource or information about it; these are [[Uniform Resource Name]]s (URNs). The web technologies that use URIs are not limited to [[Web browser|web browsers]].
== History ==
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