Replace ASCII characters with their equivalent

Question

I am setting a value in the cookie using JavaScript and getting the contents of the cookie in the code behind.

But the problem is if I am storing the string with some special characters or whitespace characters, when I am retrieving the contents of the cookie the special symbols are getting converted into ASCII equivalent.

For example, if I want to store Adam - (SET) in cookie , its getting converted into Adam%20-%20%28SET%29 and getting stored and when I am retrieving it I get the same Adam%20-%20%28SET%29. But I wan tot get this Adam - (SET) in the code behind.

How I get this. Please help.

Answer 1

In C#

Use:

String decoded = HttpUtility.UrlDecode(EncodedString);

HttpUtility.UrlDecode() is the underlying function used by most of the other alternatives you can use in the .NET Framwework (see below).

You may want to specify an encoding, if necessary.

Or:

String decoded = Uri.UnescapeDataString(s);

See Uri.UnescapeDataString()'s documentation for some caveats.

In JavaScript

var decoded = decodeURIComponent(s);

Before jumping on using unescape as recommended in other questions, read decodeURIComponent vs unescape, what is wrong with unescape? . You may also want to read What is the difference between decodeURIComponent and decodeURI? .

Answer 2

You can use the unescape function in JS to do that.

var str = unescape('Adam%20-%20%28SET%29');

Answer 3

You are looking for HttpUtility.UrlDecode() (in the System.Web namespace, I think)

Answer 4

In javasrcipt you can use the built-in decodeURIComponent, but I suspect that the string encoding is happening when the value is sent to server so the C# answers are what you want.