# Introduction zend-uri aids in manipulating and validating [Uniform Resource Identifiers](http://www.w3.org/Addressing/) ([URIs](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt)). zend-uri exists primarily to assist other components, such as [zend-http](https://zendframework.github.io/zend-http/), but is also useful as a standalone utility. URIs always begin with a scheme, followed by a colon. The construction of the many different schemes varies significantly. The zend-uri component provides the `Zend\Uri\UriFactory` that returns an instance of the appropriate class implementing `Zend\Uri\UriInterface` for the given scheme (assuming the factory can locate one).