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Escape String Online

Convert special characters to their escaped versions for safe use in code

When You Need This

String escaping is essential whenever you're working with code, data formats, or systems that use special characters with specific meanings.

  • Preparing strings for JavaScript/JSON code to prevent syntax errors
  • Inserting text into HTML attributes without breaking markup
  • Building SQL queries safely to prevent injection attacks
  • Creating regex patterns with special characters that need literal treatment
  • Preparing content for XML documents and API payloads
  • Encoding user input for safe storage and display in web applications

How to Use This Tool

Our tool simplifies the escaping process with intuitive controls and language-specific formatting options for accurate results.

  1. Paste your text - Insert any text containing special characters into the input box
  2. Select language - Choose the programming language you need the escaped string for
    • ☑️ JavaScript - Escape strings for JS code and JSON data
    • ☑️ Python - Prepare strings for Python 2/3 code and APIs
    • ☑️ HTML - Encode special characters for HTML/XML documents
    • ☑️ JSON - Strict escaping for JSON data interchange
    • ☑️ Java - Format strings for Java applications
    • ☑️ C# - Escape strings for .NET applications
  3. Set options:
    • ☑️ Escape Unicode: Convert non-ASCII characters (like emojis) to Unicode escapes
    • ☑️ Preserve newlines: Keep line breaks as-is instead of converting to \n
  4. Click "Escape Text" - Your converted string will appear in the output box
  5. Copy the result - Use the output directly in your code

Example Workflow:

1. You paste: Hello "World"! ❤️

2. Select JavaScript format

3. Output becomes: Hello \"World\"! \u2764\uFE0F

What Gets Escaped

Different programming languages and formats require different escaping rules. Here's what our tool handles for each format.

  • Quotes (" → \" or " in HTML)
  • Backslashes (\ → \\)
  • Control characters (newlines, tabs, carriage returns)
  • Special HTML chars (< → <, > → >)
  • Unicode characters (when enabled) - converts to \uXXXX format
  • Regex special characters when relevant to the target language

Language-Specific Escaping Examples:

Input JavaScript HTML JSON
Line 1
Line "2"		 Line 1\nLine \"2\" Line 1<br>Line "2" Line 1\nLine \"2\"

Common Challenges & Solutions

Working with escaped strings can sometimes be tricky. Here's how to handle common scenarios.

Double-escaping issues

Avoid escaping strings multiple times, as this can lead to confusing results like \\\\n instead of \n. If you see too many backslashes, you might have escaped already-escaped content.

Mixed content handling

When working with text that contains both code and natural language, consider escaping only the portions that need it rather than the entire block.

Encoding conflicts

Ensure your source and target systems use the same character encoding (UTF-8 recommended) to prevent issues with Unicode characters after escaping.

Pro Tips

Maximize your productivity and avoid common pitfalls with these professional recommendations.

Why escape strings?

Escaping prevents code injection attacks and ensures special characters don't break your syntax. It's essential for security and data integrity when working with dynamic content.

When should I escape Unicode?

Use Unicode escaping when you need ASCII-only output or are working with legacy systems that don't support UTF-8. For modern web applications, you can usually skip this option.

What about performance?

Modern browsers handle escaped strings efficiently with no noticeable performance impact. However, extremely long texts (10,000+ lines) might process more slowly.

Should I escape before or after processing?

Generally, escape right before inserting content into its final destination. This keeps your source code readable and avoids unnecessary escaping of already-safe content.

Security Considerations

Proper escaping is crucial for application security. Here's what you need to know.

  • Prevent injection attacks - Proper escaping stops XSS, SQL injection, and other code injection vulnerabilities
  • Context matters - Escape differently for HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and URL contexts
  • Don't rely solely on escaping - Use parameterized queries for databases and Content Security Policies for web apps
  • Validate input - Escape malformed input but also validate it against expected patterns