String problems with Javascript double quotes inside single

Question

This is my code:

<script>
    function popupTest(title) {
        alert(title);
        return false;
    }
</script>

<a href="" onclick="return popupTest('This is &#039;some&#039; &quot;test&quot; string')"><span>Recommend</span></a>

Using Firefox 4 I get the error:

Error: missing ) after argument list
Source Code:
return popupTest('This is 'some' "test" string')

It's like it's decoding the HTML entities but I don't know why.

Have also tried...

<a href="" onclick="return popupTest('This is \'some\' \"test\" string')"><span>Recommend</span></a>

Which gives error:

Error: unterminated string literal
Source Code:
return popupTest('This is \'some\' \

While the answers here are correct, the proper solution would be giving the element an ID and then attaching an event handler to it using JavaScript instead of inlining an onclick attribute. — ThiefMaster
– ThiefMaster, Commented May 10, 2011 at 8:42

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-10 08:39:10Z

14

' is HTML for '. So for the first example the HTML is parsed and the JavaScript engine is passed:

return popupTest('This is 'some' "test" string')

… and the second ' terminates the string.

On the other hand:

onclick="return popupTest('This is \'some\' \"test\" string')"

Is parsed as:

An onclick attribute with the value return popupTest('This is \'some\' \ followed by some invalid data.

You need to deal with the JavaScript first:

return popupTest('This is \'some\' "test" string')

and then escape it for HTML:

onclick="return popupTest('This is \'some\' &quot;test&quot; string')"

You would probably be better off using unobtrusive JavaScript and binding the event handlers with JavaScript instead of using intrinsic event attributes.

answered May 10, 2011 at 8:39

Quentin

949k136 gold badges1.3k silver badges1.4k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

String problems with Javascript double quotes inside single

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related