javascript | save textarea value with line breaks

Question

I have a code where it saves multiple textarea values in a text file. However, it does not display the line breaks I indicated after saving it. It only identifies the line breaks w/c are manually put within the textarea. Below is the code. Please help.

<script>
    var TestVar = new Array(); 
    var i = 0;
    function save()
    {
        TestVar[i] = document.getElementById("text1").value + "\n" + document.getElementById("text2").value;
        mydoc = document.open();
        mydoc.write(TestVar);
        mydoc.execCommand("saveAs",true,"TicketID.txt");
        mydoc.close();
    }
</script>
</head>
<body>
    <form id=formtest>
        <textarea name="textarea" id="text1"></textarea>
        <textarea name="textarea" id="text2"></textarea>
        <input type="button" value="save" onclick="save()">
    </form>
</body>

if you are on PHP, you should consider using "nl2br" PHP function when saving your textbox's data in the table. you can later convert your any "
"'s accouring in the table with: str_replace("
", "\n", $textboxValue); — , Oct 15 '12 at 13:26
Hi. Not using any server side scripting since it will only save the file locally. — Alex M, Oct 15 '12 at 14:07

score 29 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 15 '12 at 13:23

29

text = text.replace(/\n\r?/g, '<br />');

text is value from textarea.

answered Oct 15 '12 at 13:23

When I try this '
' is printed in the text area. There is no line break. – jarrodwhitley Apr 07 '21 at 17:19

score 14 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 11 '14 at 00:01

14

The problem stems from the fact that line breaks (\n) are not the same as HTML <br /> tags.

Try this:

var text = document.forms[0].txt.value;
text = text.replace(/\n\r?/g, '<br />');

Edit, try this as the js:

var text = document.forms[0].txt.value;

if (text === true) { text = text.replace(/\n\r?/g, '<br />'); } 

var TestVar = new Array(i); 
var i = 0;
function save()
{
TestVar[i] = document.getElementById("text1").value + "/n" + document.getElementById("text2").value;
mydoc = document.open();
mydoc.write(TestVar);
mydoc.execCommand("saveAs",true,"TicketID.txt");
mydoc.close();
}

edited Jun 11 '14 at 00:01

bjb568

11,089
11
50
71

answered Oct 15 '12 at 13:22

dsgriffin

66,495
17
137
137

tried that and it giving me the error below. Webpage error details Message: 'document.forms.0.txt' is null or not an object Line: 4 Char: 1 Code: 0 – Alex M Oct 15 '12 at 14:11
Webpage error details Message: 'document.forms.0.txt' is null or not an object Line: 4 Char: 1 Code: 0 – Alex M Oct 15 '12 at 14:14
Thanks but not sure if I am doing it correctly. Still got the same error message. – Alex M Oct 15 '12 at 14:25
var text = document.forms[0].txt.value; function replaceText() { if (text == true) { text = text.replace(/\n\r?/g, '
'); } } – Alex M Oct 15 '12 at 14:25

javascript | save textarea value with line breaks

2 Answers2

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