URL linebreak in footnote

Question

I use a footnote with a too long url, so that I'd like to see a linebreak. The url package does linebreaks automatically as far as i know, but in the footnote it won't do it. Anyone have a solution to this?

\footnote{\url{http://www.this-is-a-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-long.url/}}

Answer 1

The url package documentation suggests the following:

Ordinarily, breaks are not allowed after "-" characters because this leads to confusion. (Is the "-" part of the address or just a hyphen?) The package option [hyphens] allows breaks after explicit hyphen characters. The \url command will never ever hyphenate words.

If your original example included a URL that has that specific structure, then \usepackage[hyphens]{url} will solve your problem.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[hyphens]{url}
\begin{document}
This is text\footnote{\url{http://www.this-is-a-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-long.url/}}.
\end{document}​

Answer 2

Or – not fancy but effective – simply replace the hyphens in the URL by "\%2D". It doesn't look as nice as hyphens, but this way it breaks correctly and still works fine as a link.

E.g.

\url{http://www.whysomanyhyphens.com/content/this-article-has-its-whole-title-as-the-url-that-will-never-fit-in-your-puny-footnote}

becomes

\url{http://www.whysomanyhyphens.com/content/this\%2Darticle\%2Dhas\%2Dits\%2Dwhole\%2Dtitle\%2Das\%2Dthe\%2Durl\%2Dthat\%2Dwill\%2Dnever\%2Dfit\%2Din\%2Dyour\%2Dpuny\%2Dfootnote}

Especially when the url is long and cryptic (=ugly) anyway, I just do that.

Answer 3

The url package does linebreaks automatically [in long URL strings], but in the footnote it won't do it.

The main issue -- not touched on by the previously-posted answers -- is that the \url macro is "fragile" (in the LaTeX-specific sense of the word). That's why typesetting URL strings -- especially long URL strings -- in footnotes can be tricky.

For just such cases, the user guide of the url package recommends the "defined-URL" approach, as it is "robust" -- again, the LaTeX-specific sense of the word. Use the \urldef macro to create a defined URL.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[hyphens,spaces,obeyspaces]{url}
\urldef{\footurl}\url{http://www.this-is-a-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-very-long.url/}
\usepackage[colorlinks]{hyperref} % optional

\begin{document}
\footnote{\footurl} % use the "defined URL" in the argument of "\footnote"
\end{document}