diff --git a/plugins/Google/test.py b/plugins/Google/test.py
index 260b06bf2..9d9495984 100644
--- a/plugins/Google/test.py
+++ b/plugins/Google/test.py
@@ -54,6 +54,12 @@ class GoogleTestCase(ChannelPluginTestCase):
             # Unicode check
             self.assertNotError('google ae')
 
+        def testSearchFormat(self):
+            self.assertRegexp('google foo', '<http://.*>')
+            self.assertNotError('config reply.format.url %s')
+            self.assertRegexp('google foo', 'http://.*')
+            self.assertNotRegexp('google foo', '<http://.*>')
+
         def testSearchOneToOne(self):
             self.assertRegexp('google dupa', ';')
             self.assertNotError('config plugins.Google.oneToOne True')
diff --git a/src/conf.py b/src/conf.py
index 9a9a3ecee..208864adc 100644
--- a/src/conf.py
+++ b/src/conf.py
@@ -314,6 +314,8 @@ for (name, s) in registry._cache.iteritems():
 registerGroup(supybot, 'reply')
 
 registerGroup(supybot.reply, 'format')
+registerChannelValue(supybot.reply.format, 'url',
+    registry.String('<%s>', _("""Determines how urls should be formatted.""")))
 registerChannelValue(supybot.reply.format, 'time',
     registry.String('%I:%M %p, %B %d, %Y', _("""Determines how timestamps
     printed for human reading should be formatted. Refer to the Python
diff --git a/src/utils/str.py b/src/utils/str.py
index c5ce82a3e..79ecb3851 100644
--- a/src/utils/str.py
+++ b/src/utils/str.py
@@ -471,7 +471,8 @@ def format(s, *args, **kwargs):
         elif char == 't':
             return timestamp(args.pop())
         elif char == 'u':
-            return '<%s>' % args.pop()
+            import supybot.conf as conf
+            return conf.supybot.reply.format.url() % args.pop()
         elif char == 'v':
             args.pop()
             return ''