Encode / Decode

Backslash Escape / Unescape

Add or remove backslash escape sequences from text. Escapes newlines as \n, tabs as \t, quotes as \" or \', and supports Unicode escapes like \uXXXX and \xNN. Useful when you're working with strings in source code, JSON values embedded in strings, or debugging escape-related issues in log files.

Backslash Escape/Unescape — Escape or unescape backslash sequences (\n, \t, \", \uXXXX…)

What it does

  • Escapes special characters: \n, \r, \t, \b, \f, \v, \0, \\, \", \'
  • Supports Unicode escape sequences (\uXXXX) for non-ASCII characters
  • Supports hex escape sequences (\xNN) for byte values
  • Unescapes all supported sequences back to their literal characters
  • Reports dangling backslashes at end of input as errors

Use cases

  • Escaping newlines and quotes in a string before embedding it in source code
  • Debugging escape sequence issues in a log file or error message
  • Converting between literal characters and their escape sequence representation
  • Preparing text for use in a JSON string value or source code literal

How it works

1

Paste your text into the input pane

2

Choose Escape or Unescape mode

3

The tool processes all supported escape sequences

4

The result appears instantly in the output pane

Frequently asked questions

1Which escape sequences does it support?

All standard C-style escapes: \n (newline), \r (carriage return), \t (tab), \b (backspace), \f (form feed), \v (vertical tab), \0 (null), \\ (backslash), \" (double quote), \' (single quote), \uXXXX (Unicode), and \xNN (hex byte).

2How is this different from URL encoding or HTML encoding?

Backslash escaping is used in programming language string literals (C, JavaScript, Python, etc.). URL encoding uses percent signs (%20). HTML encoding uses entities (&). Each is for a different context — use the one that matches where your string will be used.

3What happens with a dangling backslash?

If the input ends with a backslash that has no character after it, the tool reports an error. This catches malformed input where an escape sequence was truncated.

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