Testing Punctuation on URL Shorteners

tinyurl_test.rb

require 'net/http'

# These links were taken from my twitter timeline. No endorsement implied.
tiny_urls = {
  'bitly' => ['http://bit.ly/3S9c5K', 'http://developer.nytimes.com/'],
  'j.mp' => ['http://j.mp/JsML0u', 'http://www.npr.org/2012/04/26/151303230/an-african-trader-and-the-perils-of-business-in-china'],
  'tinyurl' => ['http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob', 'http://politicsoftheplate.com/?p=1283'],
  'owly' => ['http://ow.ly/axesj', 'http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/opera-12-beta-released-new-security-features-including-do-not-track-support-042612'],
  'ht.ly' => ['http://ht.ly/1j7LiX', 'http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/usatoday-LifeTopStories/~3/8vFV-fFfhAc/1'],
  'is.gd' => ['http://is.gd/gk0FoM', 'http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/joe-schmoe-drones/'],
  'twitter' => ['http://t.co/fV6GSc1x', 'http://met.org/FS1suN'],
  'facebook' => ['http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4', 'http://www.ksn.com/s/YLdNkn88gECowBSM-0Q_KA.cspx#.T5l4FTDa_ws.facebook'],
  'tumblr' => ['http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ', 'http://www.tumblr.com/ZNFL8yKMTybJ'],
  'wordpress' => ['http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b', 'http://ljndawson.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/why-amazon-will-be-the-good-guy/'],
}

APPEND_TESTS = '.,:;)?!'.split(//)

def redirects_to?(small_url, large_url)
  response = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse(small_url))
  return false unless response.is_a?(Net::HTTPRedirection)

  response['location'] == large_url
end


tiny_urls.keys.sort.each do |name|
  puts "TESTING #{name}"
  short_url, long_url = tiny_urls[name]

  if !redirects_to?(short_url, long_url)
    puts "ERROR: The short URL #{short_url} IS NOT REDIRECTING TO #{long_url}; FIX THIS BEFORE TESTING THAT SHORTENER"
    next
  end

  APPEND_TESTS.each do |char|
    test_url = short_url+char
    if redirects_to?(test_url, long_url)
      puts "  #{test_url} ok"
    else
      puts "  #{test_url} FAIL"
    end
  end

  puts
end

url_shorten_test.txt

One of my biggest gripes with shortened URLs in tweets is that 
they often break when normal sentence punctuation is added to the end. 
So, I wrote a test to try various services out and see how they work. 
Please suggest more URL shorteners to @harrisj

Why do I care? I have used various twitter clients over the years, and more
than half of them have had bugs in figuring out where the URLs would end on
short URLs. And so, they'll send the trailing punctuation along and it would
break. You might argue this is the fault of the twitter clients, but 
Postel's Law says the URL expanders should be lenient in this situation any way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle

URL SHORTENING SERVICES: Yes, I can figure out the proper URL by removing the
offending punctuation, less technically-savvy users will just associate your
tiny urls with BROKEN. Why wouldn't you want to avoid that?

TESTING bitly
  http://bit.ly/3S9c5K. ok
  http://bit.ly/3S9c5K, ok
  http://bit.ly/3S9c5K: ok
  http://bit.ly/3S9c5K; ok
  http://bit.ly/3S9c5K) ok
  http://bit.ly/3S9c5K? ok
  http://bit.ly/3S9c5K! ok

TESTING facebook
  http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4. FAIL
  http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4, FAIL
  http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4: FAIL
  http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4; FAIL
  http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4) FAIL
  http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4? ok
  http://fb.me/1xmJP3kC4! FAIL

TESTING goo.gl
  http://goo.gl/WFwhv. ok
  http://goo.gl/WFwhv, ok
  http://goo.gl/WFwhv: ok
  http://goo.gl/WFwhv; ok
  http://goo.gl/WFwhv) ok
  http://goo.gl/WFwhv? ok
  http://goo.gl/WFwhv! FAIL

TESTING ht.ly
  http://ht.ly/1j7LiX. ok
  http://ht.ly/1j7LiX, ok
  http://ht.ly/1j7LiX: ok
  http://ht.ly/1j7LiX; ok
  http://ht.ly/1j7LiX) ok
  http://ht.ly/1j7LiX? ok
  http://ht.ly/1j7LiX! ok

TESTING is.gd
  http://is.gd/gk0FoM. ok
  http://is.gd/gk0FoM, ok
  http://is.gd/gk0FoM: ok
  http://is.gd/gk0FoM; ok
  http://is.gd/gk0FoM) ok
  http://is.gd/gk0FoM? ok
  http://is.gd/gk0FoM! ok

TESTING j.mp
  http://j.mp/JsML0u. ok
  http://j.mp/JsML0u, ok
  http://j.mp/JsML0u: ok
  http://j.mp/JsML0u; ok
  http://j.mp/JsML0u) ok
  http://j.mp/JsML0u? ok
  http://j.mp/JsML0u! ok

TESTING owly
  http://ow.ly/axesj. ok
  http://ow.ly/axesj, ok
  http://ow.ly/axesj: ok
  http://ow.ly/axesj; ok
  http://ow.ly/axesj) ok
  http://ow.ly/axesj? ok
  http://ow.ly/axesj! ok

TESTING tinyurl
  http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob. FAIL
  http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob, ok
  http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob: ok
  http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob; ok
  http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob) ok
  http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob? FAIL
  http://tinyurl.com/6rq9vob! ok

TESTING tumblr
  http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ. FAIL
  http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ, FAIL
  http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ: FAIL
  http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ; FAIL
  http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ) FAIL
  http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ? ok
  http://tmblr.co/ZNFL8yKMTybJ! FAIL

TESTING twitter
  http://t.co/fV6GSc1x. FAIL
  http://t.co/fV6GSc1x, FAIL
  http://t.co/fV6GSc1x: FAIL
  http://t.co/fV6GSc1x; FAIL
  http://t.co/fV6GSc1x) FAIL
  http://t.co/fV6GSc1x? ok
  http://t.co/fV6GSc1x! FAIL

TESTING wordpress
  http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b. ok
  http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b, ok
  http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b: ok
  http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b; ok
  http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b) ok
  http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b? ok
  http://wp.me/p2jsUG-4b! ok