[Chapter 21] Reference: unescape()
Author: David Flanagan
Date: Fri Aug 29 11:20:45 1997

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| Chapter 21 JavaScript Reference |

# unescape() Function

## Name

unescape() Function---decode an escaped string

## Availability

Navigator 2.0, Internet Explorer 3.0

## Synopsis

    unescape(s)

### Arguments

`s`

  The string that is to be decoded or "unescaped."

### Returns

A decoded copy of `s`.

## Description

The `unescape()` function is a built-in part of JavaScript; it is not a method of any object.

`unescape()` decodes a string encoded with `escape()`. It creates and returns a decoded copy of `s`. It decodes `s` by finding and replacing character sequences of the form `%``xx`, where `xx` is two hexadecimal digits. Each such sequence is replaced by the single character represented by the hexadecimal digits in the Latin-1 encoding.

Thus, `unescape()` decodes the string:

    Hello%20World%21

to:

    Hello World!

See `escape()` for more information on this encoding and decoding technique.

## See Also

"escape()", "String"

toString() |  | untaint()