Inserting text with new lines into a textarea

Question

I am trying to insert data from a database into a textarea. I can't figure out how to make new lines though. I am using jquery's val() function to set the textarea content. I put \n but it just shows up in the textarea instead of making a newline. I have also tried \r\n with the same result.

UPDATE

Ok, I noticed if I just hardcode a string with \n in the val() function that it works. So the problem must be somewhere with the string I am returning via ajax from php. I am using $.ajax to call PHP which gets the value from mysql. Any ideas on what is going wrong?

HTML

<textarea id='topContent' class='divContent' rows='8'></textarea>

JAVASCRIPT

<script>
$('#dialogDiv').on('submit', '#insertMacroForm', function(){
    $.ajax({
        url: 'index.php',
        data: 'request=loadMacro2&id='+$('#macroSelection').val(),
        success: function(msg){
            $('#topContent').val(msg);
        }
    });
    return false;
});
</script>

PHP

<?php
$query = 'SELECT * FROM POEMACRO WHERE POEID=' . db2_escape_string($_GET['id']);
$result = db2_exec($conn, $query) or die(db2_stmt_errormsg());
while($row = db2_fetch_assoc($result)){
    print $row['POEMACRO'];
}
?>

There's a good answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3948779/jquery-textarea-val-doesnt-take-new-line — bokonic, Jun 26 '12 at 20:17
possible duplicate of [jQuery textarea append newline behavior](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2159622/jquery-textarea-append-newline-behavior) — Jukka K. Korpela, Jun 26 '12 at 20:45

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 26 '12 at 20:37

7

$('textarea').val('line1\nline2')

This works fine. You need to use \n in your JavaScript string.
If this string is formed in PHP on server, you may need something like json_encode() to format the string in JavaScript format.

answered Jun 26 '12 at 20:37

Niemand

346
2
10

The string is formed with php and returned via ajax. I just tried json_encode and now in the textarea \n shows up as \\n – Mike Jun 27 '12 at 12:35
Your answer led me in the right direction. I ended up adding double quotes around the string in php to make it a proper json string(without using json_encode) then I had to add $.parseJSON(msg) to my javascript. – Mike Jun 27 '12 at 13:31

score -3 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 26 '12 at 20:21

-3

You need to parse through your text and convert the \n to break tags <br/> before you pass it to the textarea.

answered Jun 26 '12 at 20:21

Dedawn

80
4

3

Tags are not allowed inside a `textarea` element, by HTML syntax. – Jukka K. Korpela Jun 26 '12 at 20:43
Didn't know that. Seen it used extensively though. Thanks @Jukka – Dedawn Jun 26 '12 at 21:53
They aren't interpreted though, so I would be curious where you have seen it. – Joshua Stafford Oct 03 '16 at 20:12

Inserting text with new lines into a textarea

2 Answers2