What does the scheme component in a URL specify?

What does the scheme component in a URL specify?

• A. The protocol used to fetch the resource (http or https)
• B. The domain name
• C. The path
• D. The port number

Answer: (A)

The scheme tells the browser which protocol to use to fetch the resource. It appears at the very start of the URL and determines how the request is formed and how the response should be handled. For web resources, the common schemes are http and https, where https adds encryption for security. Other schemes exist too, like ftp for file transfers or mailto for email addresses, but the key idea is that the scheme specifies the protocol to use. The domain name that follows identifies the server, the path specifies the exact resource on that server, and an optional port number indicates a specific port to reach on the host—the scheme itself is about which protocol to use to access the resource.

The scheme tells the browser which protocol to use to fetch the resource. It appears at the very start of the URL and determines how the request is formed and how the response should be handled. For web resources, the common schemes are http and https, where https adds encryption for security. Other schemes exist too, like ftp for file transfers or mailto for email addresses, but the key idea is that the scheme specifies the protocol to use. The domain name that follows identifies the server, the path specifies the exact resource on that server, and an optional port number indicates a specific port to reach on the host—the scheme itself is about which protocol to use to access the resource.