escape() is not strictly deprecated (as in "removed from the Web standards"), it is defined in Annex B of the ECMA-262 standard, whose introduction states:
β¦ All of the language features and behaviours specified in this annex have one or more undesirable characteristics and in the absence of legacy usage would be removed from this specification. β¦
β¦ Programmers should not use or assume the existence of these features and behaviours when writing new ECMAScript code. β¦
The escape() function computes a new string in which certain characters have been replaced by a hexadecimal escape sequence.
Note: This function was used mostly for URL queries (the part of a URL following ?)—not for escaping ordinary String literals, which use the format "\xHH". (HH are two hexadecimal digits, and the form \xHH\xHH is used for higher-plane Unicode characters.)
Escaped characters in String literals can be expanded by replacing the \x with %, then using the decodeURIComponent() function.
Syntax
escape(str)
Parameters
str- A string to be encoded.
Return value
A new string in which certain characters have been escaped.
Description
The escape function is a property of the global object. Special characters are encoded with the exception of: @*_+-./
The hexadecimal form for characters, whose code unit value is 0xFF or less, is a two-digit escape sequence: %xx. For characters with a greater code unit, the four-digit format %uxxxx is used.
Examples
Using escape
escape('abc123'); // "abc123"
escape('Àâü'); // "%E4%F6%FC"
escape('Δ'); // "%u0107"
// special characters
escape('@*_+-./'); // "@*_+-./"
Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| ECMAScript (ECMA-262) The definition of 'escape' in that specification. |
Browser compatibility
| Desktop | Mobile | Server | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
escape | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support 3 | Opera Full support 3 | Safari Full support 1 | WebView Android Full support 1 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 10.1 | Safari iOS Full support 1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 | nodejs Full support 0.1.100 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.