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Should we always add the final / or avoid it ?

Does it make a difference ?

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4 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

No difference between them. (As opposed to not putting a slash on links into a directory, for example.) I don't think I've ever seen anything saying that you should or shouldn't, though being consistent in your own behavior is generally not a bad idea, either.

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+1 the only correct answer here. – DisgruntledGoat Oct 3 '11 at 14:30
+1 Good answer. – Book Of Zeus Oct 9 '11 at 23:54
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up vote 3 down vote

One of the most wasteful redirects happens frequently and web developers are generally not aware of it. It occurs when a trailing slash (/) is missing from a URL that should otherwise have one. For example, going to "http://astrology.yahoo.com/astrology" results in a 301 response containing a redirect to "http://astrology.yahoo.com/astrology/" (notice the added trailing slash). This is fixed in Apache by using Alias or mod_rewrite, or the DirectorySlash directive if you're using Apache handlers.

from: http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

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But this does not apply to the question example – leonbloy Oct 3 '11 at 2:25
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up vote 0 down vote

The other answers have identified that it doesn't seem to technically matter.

For me it is a matter of perception, if there is a trailing slash I'd expect something to be following it, a file name, an anchor.

I also think a lack of a trailing slash looks cleaner.

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up vote -1 down vote

It's a matter of Apache configuration (can't say about others)

Some Apaches can't handle site/path as site/path/index.file

Semantically both URL declare the same resource

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It's nothing whatsoever to do with Apache. It's a browser issue. – DisgruntledGoat Oct 3 '11 at 14:30
@disgruntledgoat- Wrong statement! The DirectorySlash directive determines whether mod_dir should fixup URLs pointing to a directory or not. Typically if a user requests a resource without a trailing slash, which points to a directory, mod_dir redirects him to the same resource, but with trailing slash for some good reasons... – Lazy Badger Oct 3 '11 at 14:38
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the question is not about directories, it's about the root domain. – DisgruntledGoat Oct 3 '11 at 15:01
Apache is not the only webserver – slow diver Jan 25 at 18:47
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