JavaScript: A BackSlash as part of the string

Question

I have a JavaScript variable that I echo out using PHP which is shown like this in the page source:

var db_1 = 'C:\this\path';

When I set the value of a text field with that variable like so:

$('#myinput').val(db_1);

The slashes have disappeared and only the other characters are left!

Why is this and how can I put the slashes back in??

Thanks all

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-19 15:15:40Z

11

A backslash is an escape character in JS. They are lost when the string literal is parsed.

You can't put them back, because you have no way of telling where they were. You have to make sure they remain in the string in the first place (by representing them with an escape sequence).

var db_1 = 'C:\\this\\path';

answered Apr 19, 2010 at 15:15

Quentin

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5 Comments

Abs Over a year ago

I have tried using replace '\' with '\\' but that didn't work.

Quentin Over a year ago

If by "replace" you mean "replace in the source code" then it should work (and does for me). If you mean "Use the JavaScript String replace method" then of course it won't work — I refer you back to the second sentence of my answer. There are no backslash characters in the string, just escape sequences. Since there are no backslash characters, you won't get any changes if you try to replace them with something else.

Abs Over a year ago

Ah I see, I'll do a str_replace with PHP then. Thanks!

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

@Abs: It needs to be output as \\ originally, you can't fix it after the fact. What you actually have there otherwise is c: followed by a tab character (\t is a tab in Javascript) followed by hispath (because \p is not special, so the backslash is ignored). So what PHP outputs has to look like var db_1 = 'C:\\this\\path'; so that the backslashes are escaped.

ndim Over a year ago

If PHP consumes one level of escaping in your setup, you might even need to write that as C:\\\\this\\\\path.

Ionuț G. Stan · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-19 15:20:36Z

2

You can use:

echo json_encode('C:\this\path');

json_encode can be used as a filter function for some JavaScript code.

answered Apr 19, 2010 at 15:20

Ionuț G. Stan

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Comments

rnrneverdies · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-09 22:30:46Z

1

Try this:

var db_1 = 'C:\\this\\path';

For more info: http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_special_characters.asp

edited Jul 9, 2015 at 22:30

rnrneverdies

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answered Apr 19, 2010 at 15:17

Kasturi

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