Slashdelimited

Slashdelimited refers to a text encoding or data format in which the forward slash character (/) serves as the field delimiter. It is commonly used for representing hierarchical or path-like information in a compact, human-readable form.

Common contexts include URL paths, Unix-like filesystem paths, and various configuration or log formats that encode separate sections with slashes. For example, a hierarchical identifier such as home/user/documents or a date-like trail such as 2024/11/29 can be expressed in a slash-delimited manner. In some data exports or lightweight schemas, slash-delimited strings provide a simple substitute for more formal line-oriented or comma-delimited formats.

Advantages of slash-delimited data include readability and the natural fit for representing nested structures. Drawbacks arise when data values themselves contain slashes, which can lead to ambiguity unless escaping is used, or an alternative delimiter or encoding is chosen. Handling rules often require escaping the delimiter, percent-encoding, or switching to a different delimiter for the data portion. Parsing typically involves splitting the string on the slash, then applying unescaping as needed, while paying attention to leading or trailing slashes that may indicate absolute paths or empty fields.

Examples include host/path/to/resource, section/subsection/item, and 2023/04/15. There is no universal formal standard for slash-delimited data; its usage is largely contextual, defined by the software or protocol that employs it.