diff --git a/cake/libs/validation.php b/cake/libs/validation.php
index dfb49cb6a..08a545bb3 100644
--- a/cake/libs/validation.php
+++ b/cake/libs/validation.php
@@ -825,7 +825,16 @@ class Validation extends Object {
 		return $_this->_check();
 	}
 /**
- * Checks that a value is a valid URL.
+ * Checks that a value is a valid URL according to http://www.w3.org/Addressing/URL/url-spec.txt
+ *
+ * The regex checks for the following component parts:
+ * 	a valid, optional, scheme
+ * 		a valid ip address OR
+ * 		a valid domain name as defined by section 2.3.1 of http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1035.txt
+ *	  with an optional port number
+ *	an optional valid path
+ *	an optional query string (get parameters)
+ *	an optional fragment (anchor tag)
  *
  * @param string $check Value to check
  * @return boolean Success
@@ -834,9 +843,16 @@ class Validation extends Object {
 	function url($check) {
 		$_this =& Validation::getInstance();
 		$_this->check = $check;
-		$_this->regex = '/^(?:(?:https?|ftps?|file|news|gopher):\\/\\/)?(?:(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|(?:(?:1\d)?|[1-9]?)\d)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|(?:(?:1\d)?|[1-9]?)\d)'
-						. '|(?:[0-9a-z]{1}[0-9a-z\\-]*\\.)*(?:[0-9a-z]{1}[0-9a-z\\-]{0,62})\\.(?:[a-z]{2,6}|[a-z]{2}\\.[a-z]{2,6})'
-						. '(?::[0-9]{1,4})?)(?:\\/?|\\/[\\w\\-\\.,\'@?^=%&:;\/~\\+\(\)#]*[\\w\\-\\@?^=%&\/~\\+\(\)#])$/i';
+		$validChars = '([' . preg_quote('!"$&\'()*+,-.@_:;=') . '\/0-9a-z]|(%[0-9a-f]{2}))';
+		$_this->regex = '/^(?:(?:https?|ftps?|file|news|gopher):\\/\\/)?' .
+			'(?:' .
+			  '(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|(?:(?:1\d)?|[1-9]?)\d)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|(?:(?:1\d)?|[1-9]?)\d)|' .
+			  '(?:[0-9a-z]{1}[0-9a-z\\-]*\\.)*(?:[0-9a-z]{1}[0-9a-z\\-]{0,62})\\.(?:[a-z]{2,6}|[a-z]{2}\\.[a-z]{2,6})' .
+			  '(?::[0-9]{1,4})?' .
+		  	')' .
+			'(?:\/?|\/' . $validChars . '*)?' .
+			'(?:\?' . $validChars . '*)?' .
+			'(?:#' . $validChars . '*)?$/i';
 		return $_this->_check();
 	}
 /**
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/validation.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/validation.test.php
index c0d954fff..b0e08ab75 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/validation.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/validation.test.php
@@ -1644,6 +1644,11 @@ class ValidationTestCase extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::url('http://123456789112345678921234567893123456789412345678951234567896123.com'));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::url('http://this-domain-is-too-loooooong-by-icann-rules-maximum-length-is-63.com'));
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::url('http://www.domain.com/blogs/index.php?blog=6&tempskin=_rss2'));
+		$this->assertTrue(Validation::url('http://www.domain.com/blogs/parenth()eses.php'));
+		$this->assertTrue(Validation::url('http://www.domain.com/index.php?get=params&get2=params'));
+		$this->assertTrue(Validation::url('http://www.domain.com/ndex.php?get=params&get2=params#anchor'));
+		$this->assertFalse(Validation::url('http://www.domain.com/fakeenco%ode'));
+		$this->assertTrue(Validation::url('http://www.domain.com/real%20url%20encodeing'));
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::url('http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectural_pattern_(computer_science)'));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::url('http://en.(wikipedia).org/'));
 	}
@@ -1773,28 +1778,28 @@ class ValidationTestCase extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array()));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0)));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array('0')));
-		
+
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::multiple(array(0, 3, 4, 5), array('in' => range(0, 10))));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 15, 20, 5), array('in' => range(0, 10))));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 10, 11), array('in' => range(0, 10))));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array('boo', 'foo', 'bar'), array('in' => array('foo', 'bar', 'baz'))));
-		
+
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 10, 11), array('max' => 3)));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 10, 11, 55), array('max' => 3)));
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::multiple(array('foo', 'bar', 'baz'), array('max' => 3)));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'squirrel'), array('max' => 3)));
-		
+
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 10, 11), array('min' => 3)));
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 10, 11, 55), array('min' => 3)));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array('foo', 'bar', 'baz'), array('min' => 5)));
-		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'squirrel'), array('min' => 10)));		
-		
+		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'squirrel'), array('min' => 10)));
+
 		$this->assertTrue(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5)));
-		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9, 8, 6, 2, 1), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5)));							
+		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9, 8, 6, 2, 1), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5)));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9, 8, 11), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5)));
-		
+
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5, 'min' => 3)));
-		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9, 8, 6, 2, 1), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5, 'min' => 2)));							
+		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9, 8, 6, 2, 1), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5, 'min' => 2)));
 		$this->assertFalse(Validation::multiple(array(0, 5, 9, 8, 11), array('in' => range(0, 10), 'max' => 5, 'min' => 2)));
 	}
 /**