title: What is the semicolon reserved for in URLs?
body: <p>The <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="RFC 3986 URI: Generic Syntax">RFC 3986 URI: Generic Syntax</a> specification lists a semicolon as a reserved (sub-delim) character:</p>
  <pre><code>reserved    = gen-delims / sub-delims
  
  gen-delims  = &quot;:&quot; / &quot;/&quot; / &quot;?&quot; / &quot;#&quot; / &quot;[&quot; / &quot;]&quot; / &quot;@&quot;
  
  sub-delims  = &quot;!&quot; / &quot;$&quot; / &quot;&amp;&quot; / &quot;'&quot; / &quot;(&quot; / &quot;)&quot;
                / &quot;*&quot; / &quot;+&quot; / &quot;,&quot; / &quot;;&quot; / &quot;=&quot;
  </code></pre>
  <p>What is the reserved purpose of the &quot;;&quot; of the semicolon in URIs? For that matter, what is the purpose of the other sub-delims (I'm only aware of purposes for &quot;&amp;&quot;, &quot;+&quot;, and &quot;=&quot;)?</p>