How to encode arbitrary string for request in Node.js?

Question

I have a string like that: "abcde 李". It can be any string with non latin characters.

I want to encode it to use in request, so it will be "abcde %E6%9D%8E" and can be used for http.request.

I have tried this:

str.toString("utf-8");

or

var buffer = new Buffer(str);
str = buffer.toString('utf-8');

but none of them work. what is the proper way to handle this?

maerics · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-02 21:44:33Z

3

That string is already UTF-8. It looks like you're trying to escape it for use in an HTTP query string, so try this:

var qs = require('querystring');
qs.escape('abcde 李'); // => 'abcde%20%E6%9D%8E'

answered Apr 2, 2012 at 21:44

maerics

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4 Comments

murvinlai Over a year ago

You are the man!!!! I am always confused how to deal with encoding and escaping.. thanks. :)

Kevin Over a year ago

In this case, what is the difference between qs.escape and encodeURI?

maerics Over a year ago

@Kelvin: there is effectively no difference for this example. The node.js docs for querystring.escape(...) even note that the function exists primarily so that it can be overridden. Using encodeURI(...) should yield the same result.

Tracker1 Over a year ago

escape("abcde 李") == "abcde%20%u674E" ... encodeURI("abcde 李") == "abcde%20%E6%9D%8E"

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