How to Escape Quotes in a String using JavaScript

Escape Quotes in a String #

To escape a single or double quote in a string, use a backslash \ character before each single or double quote in the contents of the string, e.g. 'that\'s it'.

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const escapeSingle = 'it\'s a string';
console.log(escapeSingle) // 👉️ it's a string

The backslash character allows us to escape the single quote, so it's taken literally in the string.

You can use the same approach to escape a double quote in a string.

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const escapeDouble = "He said: \"test 123\""
console.log(escapeDouble) // 👉️ He said: "test 123"

Again, we use the backslash \ character to escape each double quote in the string.

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const withSingle = "it's a string";
console.log(withSingle) // 👉️ it's a string

const withDouble = 'He said: "test 123"'
console.log(withDouble) // 👉️ He said: "test 123"

In the examples, we alternate between outer and inner quotes so we don't have to escape them.

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const withBoth = `it's a "test 123"`;
console.log(withBoth) // 👉️ it's a "test 123"

The outer quotes of the string use backticks so we don't have to escape the single or double quotes in the string.

To add a backslash \ character to a string, add two backslashes next to one another. The first backslash escapes the second, so the second is taken literally.

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const addBackslash = "He said: \\\"test 123\\\""
console.log(addBackslash) // 👉️ He said: \"test 123\"

In the example above we have 3 backslashes next to one another. The first backslash escapes the second, so it is interpreted literally by JavaScript. The third backslash is used to escape the double quotes.

Here's a more realistic example, where we only add a backslash to the string.

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const addBackslash = "BMW \\1996\\"
console.log(addBackslash) // 👉️ BMW \1996\