How do I retain backslashes in strings when using JSON.stringify?

Question

So I got a string that has a backslash in it. "kIurhgFBOzDW5il89\/lB1ZQnmmY=".

I tried adding an extra '\', but JSON.stringify( "kIurhgFBOzDW5il89\\/lB1ZQnmmY=") returns the string with two backslashes instead of one. Is there any way to keep the backslash using JSON.stringify?

@xdazz it's part of a larger object which is sent to the server — James
– James, Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 4:17

Michael Richardson · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-12 03:51:52Z

12

JSON.stringify doesn't remove the backslash, it encodes it. When you use JSON.parse on the other end, or whatever you do to decode your JSON, it will return the original string.

answered Mar 12, 2014 at 3:51

Michael Richardson

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2 Comments

Alex K Over a year ago

The backslash is actually lost in this example. JSON.stringify( { "a": "^sports\..*" } ) {"a":"^sports..*"} JSON.parse( '{"a":"^sports..*"}' ); Object {a: "^sports..*"}

unagi Over a year ago

The backslash is not lost due to JSON.stringify() or JSON.parse(); it is lost because the literal is not well-formed. In other words, "^sports\..*" === "^sports..*" is true.

chiliNUT · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-12 04:00:36Z

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The backslash is escaping the forward slash. So JSON.stringify("\/") returns "/" since it sees an escaped forward slash, so its just a forward slash. JSON.stringify("\\/") sees a backslash being escaped, and then a forward slash next to that, so it returns "\/". You cannot preserve the "exact" string when you stringify, since parsing a json string will not escape characters, so you get back your original data, just unescaped.

answered Mar 12, 2014 at 4:00

chiliNUT

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3 Comments

jk7 Over a year ago

You're 2nd example is incorrect though. JSON.stringify("\\/") returns "\\/" not "\/"

chiliNUT Over a year ago

@jk7 maybe my wording was unclear. I'm not saying the result of stringifying "\\/" is "\/", I'm saying the result of parsing the stringified string is "\/", ie JSON.parse(JSON.stringify("\/")) > "/" and JSON.parse(JSON.stringify("\\/")) > "\/"

jk7 Over a year ago

yes, that's true. The problem some of us have is that the stringified string is not going to be parsed by JSON.parse() but rather by server logic and needs to be sent as "\/" instead of "/". Example: "\/Date(1502450577171+0000)\/"

cbayram · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-12 03:54:04Z

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JSON.parse(JSON.stringify("kIurhgFBOzDW5il89\\/lB1ZQnmmY="))
// "kIurhgFBOzDW5il89\/lB1ZQnmmY="

answered Mar 12, 2014 at 3:54

cbayram

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