ios URL(string: ) not working always

Question

let testurl = "http://akns-
images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2018029/rs_1024x759-
180129200032-1024.lupita-nyongo-angela-bassett-black-panther-
premiere.ct.012918.jpg?fit=inside|900:auto"

if let url = URL(string: testurl){
    print("valid")
}else {
   print("invalid")
}

This prints as an invalid URL. But shows the image in web browser. I have seen lot of methods but it throws Apple warning to use stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters and this doesn't work always.

I would prefer a solution to clean-up the url without encoding the complete urlstring. Encoding it at initial step can be a friction when passing to external libraries which will re-encode the url and make it invalid.

Answer 1

I think I have found my answer. Still will be checking for any side effects, comments are welcome:

let urlst = "http://akns-
images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2018029/rs_1024x759-
180129200032-1024.lupita-nyongo-angela-bassett-black-panther-
premiere.ct.012918.jpg?fit=inside|900:auto"
extension String {
 func getCleanedURL() -> URL? {
    guard self.isEmpty == false else {
        return nil
    }
    if let url = URL(string: self) {
        return url
    } else {
        if let urlEscapedString = self.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: CharacterSet.urlQueryAllowed) , let escapedURL = URL(string: urlEscapedString){
            return escapedURL
        }
    }
    return nil
 }
}

This does not encode the complete URL but encodes only the invalid query characters (in eg url its '|'). Thus it can still be passed around as a string or a valid URL.