Rules for creating web resource address masks

A web resource address mask ("address mask") can be convenient when a lot of similar addresses of web resources must be entered when creating a web resource access rule. One skillfully-formed address mask can replace a large number of addresses of web resources.

When creating an address mask, the following rules apply:

1. The * character replaces any sequence of zero or more characters.

   For example, if you enter the address mask *abc*, the web resource access rule applies to all addresses containing the sequence abc. Example: http://www.example.com/page_0-9abcdef.html.

2. The character sequence *. lets you select all domains of an address, i.e. it represents a domain mask. The domain mask *. is interpreted as any domain name, subdomain name, or an empty string.

   Example: the following addresses match the *.example.com mask:

   • http://pictures.example.com – the domain mask *. matches pictures.
   • http://user.pictures.example.com – the domain mask *. matches pictures. and user..
   • http://example.com – the domain mask *. is interpreted as an empty string.
3. The character sequence www. at the beginning of an address mask is interpreted as the sequence *..

   Example: The address mask www.example.com is interpreted as *.example.com. The mask matches the addresses www2.example.com and www.pictures.example.com.

4. If an address mask does not begin with a * character, the address mask matches the same content that it would match if it started with *..
5. If an address mask ends with a character other than / or *, the address mask matches the same content that it would match if it ended with /*.

   Example: the address mask http://www.example.com matches addresses of the form http://www.example.com/abc, where a, b, c are any characters.

6. If an address mask ends with a / character, the address mask matches the same content that it would match if it ended with /*.
7. The character sequence /* at the end of an address mask is interpreted as /* or an empty string.
8. When web resource addresses are compared to an address mask, the protocol (http: or https:) is taken into consideration.
   • If there is no network protocol in the address mask, the address mask matches addresses with any network protocol.

     Example: The address mask example.com matches the addresses http://example.com and https://example.com.

   • If a network protocol is present in an address mask, only addresses with the same network protocol will match the address mask.

     Example: the address mask http://*.example.com matches the address http://www.example.com but does not match the address https://www.example.com.

9. An address mask enclosed in double quotes is interpreted without any further substitutions, except for the * character if it was initially included in the address mask. For address masks enclosed in double quotes, rules 5 and 7 are not enforced (see examples 14–18 in the table below).
10. The evaluation of a web resource address mask does not consider the user name and password, connection port, or case.

     

    Examples of applying rules to build address masks

     

    No.	Address mask	Web resource address	Does the address match the address mask?	Comment
    1	*.example.com	http://www.123example.com	No	See rule 1.
    2	*.example.com	http://www.123.example.com	Yes	See rule 2.
    3	*example.com	http://www.123example.com	Yes	See rule 1.
    4	*example.com	http://www.123.example.com	Yes	See rule 1.
    5	http://www.*.example.com	http://www.123example.com	No	See rule 1.
    6	www.example.com	http://www.example.com	Yes	See rules 3, 2, and 1.
    7	www.example.com	https://www.example.com	Yes	See rules 3, 2, and 1.
    8	http://www.*.example.com	http://123.example.com	Yes	See rules 3, 4, and 1.
    9	www.example.com	http://www.example.com/abc	Yes	See rules 3, 5, and 1.
    10	example.com	http://www.example.com	Yes	See rules 3 and 1.
    11	http://example.com/	http://example.com/abc	Yes	See rule 6.
    12	http://example.com/*	http://example.com	Yes	See rule 7.
    13	http://example.com	https://example.com	No	See rule 8.
    14	"example.com"	http://www.example.com	No	See rule 9.
    15	"http://www.example.com"	http://www.example.com/abc	No	See rule 9.
    16	"*.example.com"	http://www.example.com	Yes	See rules 1 and 9.
    17	"http://www.example.com/*"	http://www.example.com/abc	Yes	See rules 1 and 9.
    18	"www.example.com"	http://www.example.com; https://www.example.com	Yes	See rules 9 and 8.
    19	www.example.com/abc/123	http://www.example.com/abc	No	An address mask contains more information than a web resource address.

     

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