Escape text for code and data formats
Every format has characters that need escaping. Get them wrong and you get syntax errors, or injection bugs.
| Format | What changes |
|---|---|
| JSON | " and \ escaped; newlines, tabs and control characters as \n, \t, \u0000 |
| JavaScript | as JSON, plus single quotes and the line/paragraph separators U+2028/2029 |
| C / Java | quotes, backslashes, \n \r \t, other control characters as \xNN |
| Regular expression | `. * + ? ^ $ { } ( ) |
| SQL | single quotes doubled (O'Brien → O''Brien) |
| CSV | fields with commas, quotes or line breaks wrapped in quotes, inner quotes doubled |
| XML / HTML attribute | & < > " ' as entities |
| Shell | wrapped in single quotes, inner single quotes handled with '\'' |
Unescape reverses each format: \n becomes a real newline, \u00e9 and \u{1F600} become characters, \x41 becomes “A”.
A word on SQL
Escaping quotes is not a defence against SQL injection in application code, use parameterised queries. The SQL mode is for writing literals by hand, such as in a migration or a one-off query.
Worked example
Here is what the String Escaper returns for its built-in example. Settings used: Direction: Escape; Format: JSON string. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
She said "hello"
and left at 5 o'clock — price: $10.00 (approx.)She said \"hello\"\nand left at 5 o'clock — price: $10.00 (approx.)Questions
How do I escape quotes in JSON?
Choose JSON and Escape. Double quotes become " and backslashes become \, along with newlines and control characters.
How do I unescape \n into new lines?
Choose Unescape with JSON or JavaScript; \n, \t and \uXXXX sequences become real characters.
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