WrapLongURL

Runtime verified Differs from official docs

Syntax

WrapLongURL(url)  →  string

1 argument — exactly

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`url`	string \| number	Yes	URL to shorten

Example

%%[
  VAR @link
  SET @link = WrapLongURL(@veryLongTrackingUrl)
]%%
<a href="%%=v(@link)=%%">Read more</a>

In an email send this yields a short platform link that forwards to the original address. On a CloudPage it does not: a URL built to 1048 characters came back at exactly 1048 characters, character for character the input. Test the shortening in a send, not on a page.

Return value

string — the shortened URL when the call happens during a send; in any other context the supplied value unchanged.

The value domain is open, so there is no set of sentinel values to test for. Outside a send the return value is simply the argument, so a caller cannot tell from the result alone whether shortening happened.

Behaviour

Outside a send nothing is shortened. A URL assembled to 1048 characters — well past the documented 975-character threshold — was returned at the same length and compared equal to the input in the same render. This is the point worth remembering: a CloudPage will never show you the shortened form, so a page render is not a valid test of the feature.

Determinism follows from that. Two calls with the same input in one render returned identical strings. That is a property of the pass-through, not evidence of a stable shortening token.

A URL already below the threshold comes back unchanged — a 27-character URL rendered at length 27. This is the one part of the documented behaviour a page can confirm.

Nothing is validated. An empty string answers empty at length zero, a word that is not a URL at all comes back unchanged, and a bare number comes back as its decimal digits. None of these aborts, so a malformed value passes straight through into your markup.

Exactly one argument. A zero-argument call and a two-argument call each abort the request with HTTP 422.

Show test script

%%[
  VAR @b, @s, @long, @short, @u1, @u2
  SET @b = RequestParameter("b")

  /* known-good control: renders on every request, so a run of HTTP 422s
     can be told apart from a broken deploy */
  OutputLine(Concat("CTRL=[", Uppercase("ok"), "]"))
  OutputLine(Concat("GATE=[", @b, "]"))

  /* a URL well past the documented 975-character threshold, built here so
     the length is printed rather than assumed; called twice in one render */
  IF @b == "wlu" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlu start ---"))
    SET @s = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz01"
    SET @s = Concat(@s, @s)
    SET @s = Concat(@s, @s)
    SET @s = Concat(@s, @s)
    SET @s = Concat(@s, @s)
    SET @long = Concat("https://example.com/p?q=", @s)
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_IN_LEN=[", Length(@long), "]"))
    SET @u1 = WrapLongURL(@long)
    SET @u2 = WrapLongURL(@long)
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_OUT_LEN=[", Length(@u1), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_SAME=[", IIf(@u1 == @u2, "identical", "different"), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_UNCHANGED=[", IIf(@u1 == @long, "unchanged", "changed"), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlu done ---"))
  ENDIF

  /* a URL already below the threshold */
  IF @b == "wlushort" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlushort start ---"))
    SET @short = "https://example.com/a/b?x=1"
    SET @u1 = WrapLongURL(@short)
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_SHORT_OUT=[", @u1, "] LEN=[", Length(@u1), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_SHORT_UNCHANGED=[", IIf(@u1 == @short, "unchanged", "changed"), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlushort done ---"))
  ENDIF

  /* values that are not URLs at all: none of them is rejected */
  IF @b == "wluempty" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wluempty start ---"))
    SET @u1 = WrapLongURL("")
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_EMPTY=[", @u1, "] LEN=[", Length(@u1), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wluempty done ---"))
  ENDIF

  IF @b == "wlunonurl" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlunonurl start ---"))
    SET @u1 = WrapLongURL("not-a-url-at-all")
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_NONURL=[", @u1, "] LEN=[", Length(@u1), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlunonurl done ---"))
  ENDIF

  IF @b == "wlunum" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlunum start ---"))
    SET @u1 = WrapLongURL(12345)
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU_NUM=[", @u1, "] LEN=[", Length(@u1), "]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("--- wlunum done ---"))
  ENDIF

  /* argument counts the signature does not allow: each aborts its own
     branch with HTTP 422 while every branch above still renders */
  IF @b == "wlu0" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU0_START=[x]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU0=[", WrapLongURL(), "]"))
  ENDIF
  IF @b == "wlu2" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU2_START=[x]"))
    OutputLine(Concat("WLU2=[", WrapLongURL("https://example.com/a", "https://example.com/b"), "]"))
  ENDIF
]%%

Differs from official docs

The official reference states the shortening unconditionally: a URL longer than 975 characters comes back as a short link that redirects to the original. That did not happen in any page render. The community guide supplies the missing condition — shortening is applied when the message is sent — which explains the gap, but the official page does not mention it, so a reader of that page alone will draw the wrong conclusion.

Availability

Platform	Available
Marketing Cloud Engagement	Yes
Marketing Cloud Next	No