Note: Since Apex 20.1, the apex_page.get_url function DOES include the p_plain_url parameter, as in my new function detailed below. Somebody at Oracle may have read this page a while back... :-)
So this information is still valid, but only up till Apex 19.2.

Newer versions of Apex provide two functions to generate URLs: apex_page.get_url & apex_page.prepare_url.

The oracle documentation gives this example:
This query uses APEX_PAGE.GET_URL and its alternative APEX_UTIL.PREPARE_URL to produce two identical URLs. SELECT APEX_PAGE.GET_URL ( p_page => 1, p_items => 'P1_X,P1_Y', p_values => 'somevalue,othervalue' ) f_url_1, APEX_UTIL.PREPARE_URL('f?p=&APP_ID.:1:&APP_SESSION.::::P1_X,P1_Y:somevalue,othervalue') FROM DUAL However, when using the apex_page.get_url on modal dialogs, you may run into a problem. The automatically generated JavaScript code to close a modal dialog may not be what you want, e.g. if you want the URL to open in a new window or tab:
Instead of the intended URL: "f?p=100:1234:12782432712506::NO::P100_ID:123" target="_blank">Link</a>
You will get this URL: "javascript:apex.navigation.dialog.close(true,'f?p=100:1234:12782432712506::NO::P100_ID:123');" target="_blank">Link</a>
Strangely enough this does not always happen on first page load; in those cases it loads with the intended URL but after a refresh of the page you do get the javascript version.

The prepare_url function has a p_plain_url parameter, which is just what we need to force the issue here. The description for this parameter: "Exclude any of the generated JavaScript code to close a modal dialog, if applicable. By default, if this function is called from a modal dialog, JavaScript code to close the modal dialog is included in the generated URL.".

In the package below I created a hybrid of the two functions. If you call this function with p_plain_url = true, this always returns a "non-javascript" URL.

A quick and dirty CSS fix is also possible. You can add an attribute (in this example data-apex-js-url="N") to the <a> tags that need fixing, and then replace the "junk" added by Apex using javascript like this: $('a[data-apex-js-url="N"]').each( function(){ var $this = $(this), uri = $this.attr('href'), newuri = uri.replace('javascript:apex.navigation.dialog.close(true,\'', '').replace('"', '').replace('\');', ''); $this.attr('href', newuri); });

I always have to look up the quick-and-dirty URL format for links to pages in this application, so I thought I'd put it here for easy reference. <a href="f?p=App:Page:Session:Request:Debug:ClearCache:itemNames:itemValues:PrinterFriendly">Some Apex Page</a> For example: <a href="f?p=&APP_ID.:1043:&SESSION.::&DEBUG.::::">Some Apex Page</a>

Package

Package
	Name	TED_P1129
	Source	package ted_p1129 is function get_url ( p_application in varchar2 default null , p_page in varchar2 default null , p_session in number default apex_application.g_instance , p_request in varchar2 default null , p_debug in varchar2 default null , p_clear_cache in varchar2 default null , p_items in varchar2 default null , p_values in varchar2 default null , p_printer_friendly in varchar2 default null , p_url_charset in varchar2 default null , p_checksum_type in varchar2 default null , p_triggering_element in varchar2 default 'this' , p_plain_url in boolean default false ) return varchar2 ; end ted_p1129;

Package Body

Package Body
	Name	TED_P1129
	Source	package body ted_p1129 is function get_url ( p_application in varchar2 default null , p_page in varchar2 default null , p_session in number default apex_application.g_instance , p_request in varchar2 default null , p_debug in varchar2 default null , p_clear_cache in varchar2 default null , p_items in varchar2 default null , p_values in varchar2 default null , p_printer_friendly in varchar2 default null , p_url_charset in varchar2 default null , p_checksum_type in varchar2 default null , p_triggering_element in varchar2 default 'this' , p_plain_url in boolean default false ) return varchar2 is begin return apex_util.prepare_url ( p_url => 'f?p=' || p_application || ':' || p_page || ':' || p_session || ':' || p_request || ':' || p_debug || ':' || p_clear_cache || ':' || p_items || ':' || p_values || ':' || p_printer_friendly , p_url_charset => p_url_charset , p_checksum_type => p_checksum_type , p_triggering_element => p_triggering_element , p_plain_url => p_plain_url ) ; end get_url; end ted_p1129;