The
url™ API provides free programmatic access for web developers who need to determine the final redirected endpoint for any URL.This is useful to expand short urls and can be helpful in maintaining accurate link data from third party services which employ redirected tracking URLs.
All requests should use the HTTP GET protocol with this URL:
http://expandurl.com/api/v1/
For most uses, simply returning the expanded or redirected URL should be sufficient. Such requests should look like:
http://expandurl.com/api/v1/?url=http://www.expandurl.com/
If the provided URL redirects, this request returns the final string URL. If the provided URL does not redirect, it will return the provided URL. In the case of an error, this will return the text string "false" and a 404 status code.
Requests for additional URL and redirect data (similar to what is available in the typical web interface) is available by specifying your request like so:
http://expandurl.com/api/v1/?url=http://www.expandurl.com/&format=json&detailed=true
Available formats include json and php (which returns a serialized array).
Users are limited to 100 requests/hour. If you exceed this limit, requests will receive a 403 Forbidden status code.
API usage is bound to the same Terms of Service as the rest of the site.