# New way to specify unprefixed URLs in styles
**URL:** https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731
**Category:** CSL Evolution
**Created:** [July 10, 2021, 1:28pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731 "2021-07-10T13:28:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@eroux](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/eroux)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2021, 1:28pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731/1 "2021-07-10T13:28:50Z")
I don’t have the MLA Handbook 9th edition, but the 8th edition says in `2.5.2 URLs and DOIs` :
> When giving a URL, copy it in full from your Web browser, but omit http:// or https://.
but `modern-language-association.csl` just copies the URL that is given as argument. I think it would be best if the style could remove the `http://` and `https://` prefixes. It is currently not possible to indicate that an URL should be output without the prefix, I think there could be a new markup to do so, perhaps something like `` ?
see [removing http:// and https:// from URLs in MLA · Issue #5545 · citation-style-language/styles · GitHub](https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/issues/5545)
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### Author:  [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731/2 "2021-07-18T17:48:08Z")
Sorry for the late reply.
That’s indeed kind of awkward.
We should probably consider this along with the recent suggestions we added to the spec document on handling links.
cc @bwiernik @Denis_Maier
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### Author:  [@Denis\_Maier](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Denis_Maier)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2021, 9:05pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731/3 "2021-07-19T21:05:49Z")
Would a new value for `@form` make sense here? (Obviously, the problem is that URLs are currently rendered with `text`, so adding a new attribute like `@url-style` or a new value for `@form` will potentially cause headaches for other variables. E.g. what is `
### Author:  [@eroux](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/eroux)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2021, 6:16am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731/4 "2021-07-20T06:16:33Z")
I think it makes a lot of sense yes!
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### Author:  [@eroux](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/eroux)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2021, 7:44am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731/5 "2021-08-17T07:44:04Z")
So, I’m not entirely sure what the next step is… should I open an issue on the schema git repository?
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### Author:  [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/new-way-to-specify-unprefixed-urls-in-styles/1731/6 "2021-08-18T19:33:33Z")
I think so; yes.
If you haven’t already, you might take a look at this section on links I mentioned above, which is just a first stab at it.
>