%E2%80%99 is a curly apostrophe
%E2%80%99 is the curly right single quotation mark (’, U+2019) — not an apostrophe, even though it looks almost identical to one.
| Character | "’" |
|---|---|
| Name | Curly Apostrophe |
| Encoded | %E2%80%99 |
| Reserved | No |
Why it breaks things
’ is U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK, a "curly" or "smart" quote, visually close to a straight apostrophe (') but a different character to any system comparing text. Verified in Python: "’".encode("utf-8") gives three bytes, E2 80 99, so percent-encoding it produces %E2%80%99 — six characters for what looks like one keystroke.
Word processors are where it comes from. Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and iOS or macOS text fields quietly rewrite a typed straight apostrophe into this curly version as you type, a feature usually called "smart quotes." Someone typing O'Brien in Word ends up with O’Brien on the page.
Copy that text into a form, and its apostrophe is now U+2019, not U+0027. An exact-match search or comparison against O'Brien fails silently, since the two are different codepoints even though they read the same to a person. See %27 for the apostrophe this one is mistaken for.
Real examples
Without encoding
https://example.com/directory?name=O’Brien
With encoding
https://example.com/directory?name=O%E2%80%99Brien
Looks identical to O'Brien, but is not: this apostrophe is U+2019, not U+0027. Comparing this value against a record stored with a straight apostrophe (%27) will not match, even though the two names look the same on screen.
Without encoding
https://example.com/search?q=don’t
With encoding
https://example.com/search?q=don%E2%80%99t
Pasted from Word or Google Docs, where autocorrect replaced the typed straight apostrophe with this curly one. An exact-match search against text stored with a straight apostrophe, don't, returns nothing, despite the words looking the same.
Decode something
Result
Breakdown
| Part | Value | Copy |
|---|
History
Nothing yet.
History stays in this browser. It is never sent to our server.
Common questions
- Why does searching for a name copied from Word return no results?
- Word's autocorrect likely replaced a typed straight apostrophe (') with the curly ’ (U+2019). They look almost the same but are different characters, so an exact-match search against the straight form fails.
- Is ’ the same as an apostrophe?
- Visually very close, but no. A straight apostrophe is U+0027, one ASCII byte. The curly version is U+2019, a separate Unicode character taking three bytes in UTF-8.
- Why is %E2%80%99 so much longer than %27?
- A straight apostrophe is one byte in UTF-8, so it becomes one escape, %27. The curly apostrophe is three bytes, E2 80 99, so it becomes three escapes chained together.
- How do I stop Word or Google Docs from making this substitution?
- Both have a setting, usually called smart quotes or autocorrect, that can be turned off before typing or pasting text that needs to keep a plain, straight apostrophe.