Uniform resource name

 

A uniform resource identifier (URI) is a uniform resource locator（定位器，探测器） (URL), uniform resource name (URN), or both.

In computing, a uniform resource name (URN) is the historical name for a uniform resource identifier (URI) that uses the urn scheme. A URI is a string of characters used to identify a name of a web resource. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the web resource over a network, typically the World Wide Web, using specific protocols.

Defined in 1997 in RFC 2141, URNs were intended to serve as persistent, location-independent identifiers, allowing the simple mapping of namespaces into a single URN namespace.^[2]

Since RFC 3986^{uniform resource locators (URLs) are URIs, and a particular URI may be a name and a locator at the same time.}

URNs were originally intended in the 1990s to be part of a three-part information architecture for the Internet, along with URLs and uniform resource characteristics (URCs), ametadata framework. However, URCs never progressed past the conceptual stage,^{Resource Description Framework later took their place.}