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unescape()

files/en-us/web/javascript/reference/global_objects/unescape/index.md

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{{Deprecated_Header}}

[!NOTE] unescape() is a non-standard function implemented by browsers and was only standardized for cross-engine compatibility. It is not required to be implemented by all JavaScript engines and may not work everywhere. Use {{jsxref("decodeURIComponent()")}} or {{jsxref("decodeURI()")}} if possible.

The unescape() function computes a new string in which hexadecimal escape sequences are replaced with the characters that they represent. The escape sequences might be introduced by a function like {{jsxref("escape()")}}.

Syntax

js-nolint
unescape(str)

Parameters

  • str
    • : A string to be decoded.

Return value

A new string in which certain characters have been unescaped.

Description

unescape() is a function property of the global object.

The unescape() function replaces any escape sequence with the character that it represents. Specifically, it replaces any escape sequence of the form %XX or %uXXXX (where X represents one hexadecimal digit) with the character that has the hexadecimal value XX/XXXX. If the escape sequence is not a valid escape sequence (for example, if % is followed by one or no hex digit), it is left as-is.

[!NOTE] This function was used mostly for {{Glossary("Percent-encoding", "percent-encoding")}} and is partly based on the escape format in {{rfc(1738)}}. The unescape() function does not evaluate escape sequences in string literals. You can replace \xXX with %XX and \uXXXX with %uXXXX to get a string that can be handled by unescape().

Examples

Using unescape()

js
unescape("abc123"); // "abc123"
unescape("%E4%F6%FC"); // "äöü"
unescape("%u0107"); // "ć"

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also