Hotlink defaults to local site prefix after first such use

[Jim Bennett]

I frequently link to other sites. I generally use 'open in a new window' option. I rarely link to content in my own site. Today I did so, and then realized that an earlier, external page link, went to the wrong place. So, I un-linked it, and re-linked it using (as always) cut&paste from the other Firefox window.
This one link failed after the post was updated: the URL when editing in WordPress did not show this, but in reality, my website was prefixed to (in this case Wikipedial) the page I'd linked to.
I retried several times, then exited WordPress administrator entirely, re-entered, and fixed the hotlink.
So, I'm pretty sure that the WordPress editor 'remembers' (incorrectly) that you want to link locally, even when you say you don't.
Again, re-entering WP admin cold, I could make the link correctly.
I am using 3.9.1 but 2011 theme, not latest update.

[SergeyBiryukov]

my website was prefixed to (in this case Wikipedial) the page I'd linked to.

This happens if you remove the default http:// prefix from the link, which makes the link relative.

Sounds like a duplicate of #18149.

[Jim Bennett]

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

my website was prefixed to (in this case Wikipedial) the page I'd linked to.

This happens if you remove the default http:// prefix from the link, which makes the link relative.

Sounds like a duplicate of #18149.

I always cut(from another window) and paste over the '​http://' prefix, and it always works, EXCEPT if I've done a local link before, in the same WP admin session. Then it does not work, as I described.

[SergeyBiryukov]

FWIW, Chrome sometimes omits the http:// prefix when I copy a full URL from the address bar. I could not reproduce it on purpose though.

[johnbillion]

Sounds like we need a JavaScript implementation of esc_url_raw() to use when inserting links.

[iseulde]

Duplicate of #18149.