index.md

---

title: escape()
slug: Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/escape
page-type: javascript-function
status:
  - deprecated
browser-compat: javascript.builtins.escape

---

{{jsSidebar("Objects")}}{{Deprecated_Header}}

Note: escape() 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("encodeURIComponent()")}} or {{jsxref("encodeURI()")}} if possible.

The escape() function computes a new string in which certain characters have been replaced by hexadecimal escape sequences.

Syntax

escape(str)

Parameters

• str

  • : A string to be encoded.

Return value

A new string in which certain characters have been escaped.

Description

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

The escape() function replaces all characters with escape sequences, with the exception of ASCII word characters (A–Z, a–z, 0–9, _) and @*_+-./. Characters are escaped by UTF-16 code units. If the code unit's value is less than 256, it is represented by a two-digit hexadecimal number in the format %XX, left-padded with 0 if necessary. Otherwise, it is represented by a four-digit hexadecimal number in the format %uXXXX, left-padded with 0 if necessary.

Note: This function was used mostly for URL encoding and is partly based on the escape format in {{rfc(1738)}}. The escape format is not an escape sequence in string literals. You can replace %XX with \xXX and %uXXXX with \uXXXX to get a string containing actual string-literal escape sequences.

Examples

Using escape()

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

// special characters
escape("@*_+-./"); // "@*_+-./"

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• Polyfill of escape in core-js

• {{jsxref("encodeURI")}}

• {{jsxref("encodeURIComponent")}}

• {{jsxref("unescape")}}