8.2 Gopher URLs

Gopher servers can be accessed via URLs in a manner similar to HTTP servers. The major difference is in the file specification: here we must pass the correct descriptors for the file (searchable, directory, etc), as required by the gopher protocol. These are specified by numeric codes specified in the path name, before the name of the file being accessed. The gopher numeric type indicators are:

0 - Text file

1 - Directory

2 - CSO Name Server

4 - Mac *.hqx file

5 - Sound file

7 - Full text index

8 - Telnet session

9 - Binary file

You are not likely to see a lot of gopher URLs these days -- The Web is in large part a successor to gopher, and most gopher servers were turned off long ago.

8.2.1 Gopher URL Examples

gopher://gopher.hprc.utoronto.ca/

Retrieve the home menu from the named gopher server, running on the default port number (70).

gopher://gopher.hprc.utoronto.ca/11adaptive.technology

Retrieve the 'adaptive technology' menu from the named gopher server, running on the default port number.

gopher://gumby.brain.headache.edu:151/7fonebook.txt

Access the searchable index 'fonebook.txt' from the named gopher server, running on port number 151.

Gopher URLs are complicated, and easy to mess up when typed-in by hand. The easiest way to create them is to use your computers's cut and paste feature -- use your browser to access the gopher document you want, cut the URL, and then paste it into your HTML document!