URI format

RFC 3986, which was published in 2005 https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt, defines the format that makes valid URIs:

URI = scheme "://" authority "/" path [ "?" query] ["#" fragment"] 
URI = http://myserver.com/mypath?query=1#document 

We are will use the path element in order to locate an endpoint that is running on our server. In a REST endpoint, this can contain parameters as well as a document location. The query string is equally important, as you will use this to pass parameters such as page number or ordering to control the data that is returned.

Some general rules for URI formatting:

• A forward slash / is used to indicate a hierarchical relationship between resources
• A trailing forward slash / should not be included in URIs
• Hyphens - should be used to improve readability
• Underscores _ should not be used in URIs
• Lowercase letters are preferred as case sensitivity is a differentiator in the path part of a URI

The concept behind many of the rules is that a URI should be easy to read and to construct. It should also be consistent in the way that it is built so you should follow the same taxonomy for all the endpoints in your API.