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by qu4z-2 1995 days ago
So, fun fact about percent-encoding: the space character can be percent encoded as %20 or +, and a literal plus must always be percent encoded as %2b. When you put plusses in Google Search those are actually pre-percent encoded spaces, which is why it treats them as spaces. Of course, if you chuck it into a percent encoding script again it treats them as literal spaces since presumably the input isn't already percent encoded (just as it'd encode the % in other encoded characters).

At least that's if I recall correctly and it wouldn't surprise me if other servers do handle things in zany ways.