# Breaking an URL into multiple lines

**URL:** <https://talk.commonmark.org/t/breaking-an-url-into-multiple-lines/955>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [December 11, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/breaking-an-url-into-multiple-lines/955 "2014-12-11T14:24:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![piwi](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/piwi/32/539_2.png) [@piwi](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/piwi)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/breaking-an-url-into-multiple-lines/955/1 "2014-12-11T14:24:01Z")

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When commenting my code (using Doxygen), one problem that I encounter sometimes is that when I put a link in the comments, it has lots of characters, therefore requiring a line that contains more characters than what should be (eg. more than 80 columns). For example:

```
[Boost Informational Macros][1]

[1]: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_44_0/libs/config/doc/html/boost_config/boost_macro_reference.html#boost_config.boost_macro_reference.boost_informational_macros

```

This is not a dramatic problem. But a convention used where I work is that lines of codes do not take up more than 120 lines. Therefore, I would like to spread the URL on multiple lines. The workaround is to use plain HTML, which is really not readable in plain text.

I am wondering whether the specification permits such “feature” (I did not see any explicit mention regarding this case when looking at the spec, but I may have missed it)? If not, wouldn’t it make sense to have one?

I believe it would be useful, as that allows someone to see the whole URL in plain text without having to scroll, or enable word-wrapping in the editor used.

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**Author:** ![lu\_zero](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/lu_zero/32/557_2.png) [@lu\_zero](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/lu_zero)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/breaking-an-url-into-multiple-lines/955/2 "2014-12-11T18:15:47Z")

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There had been discussion about shortened urls support (as in [expandable schemas](http://talk.commonmark.org/t/compact-uris-curies/553)), but for such urls I’m afraid it is not going to work anyway… (I’d complain with boost about tinyurls).