The actual characters in a search request sent to a query program. It typically contains the query command and search data. Query strings are widely used on the Web for search engine queries as well as links to databases. The query string characters are appended to the domain name in the URL using special characters such as ?, & and %. For example, to find the definition for "digital cinema," typing the words into a search box on a site might generate this hypothetical query string:

 http://www.computerglossary.com/search?q=digital+cinema