jQuery.html() with single quotes

Question

I can't figure out how to write this so it works. We have a page where users can upload documents and the list will show on the screen. The problem comes when the filename has a single quote in it. We are using jQuery. There's some code generation going on but this is the basics of what comes out.

$(someElement).html('<label onclick="$(someOtherElement).attr(\'title\', \'TheFile\\'Name.pdf\')">Some Text</label>');

The single quote in the file name is causing a problem. I've tried escaping it both with one backslash and 2 backslashes. With a single backslash the code runs but produces this html:

<label onclick="$(someOtherElement).attr('title', 'TheFile'Name.pdf')">Some Text</label>

which now fails on the onclick.

With 2 backslashes, the jquery html() line won't run at all. In both cases I get Unexpected identifier, just at different points.

You may want to correct what appears to be a typo in your code `#(someElement)`. I reformatted your question but didn't change the content. — j08691, Mar 19 '14 at 13:28
Use better jQuery functionality. For example, create a label like `$("")`, and set its inner text with `.text("Some Text")`. You can add event handlers with `.on("click", function () { /* FUNCTION CODE */ })`. If you want to clear everything in `$(someElement)`, use `$(someElement).empty()`, and then add the label with `.append(Your_Label_Variable);` — Ian, Mar 19 '14 at 13:28

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '14 at 13:33

You need a tripple backslash :

$(someElement).html('<label onclick="$(someOtherElement).attr(\'title\', \'TheFile\\\'Name.pdf\')">Some Text</label>');

Why 3?

The first one escape the second backslash that will escape the ' in the HTML code.

The third one escape the ' to prevent the string from closing.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 19 '14 at 13:32

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You need to not just double but triple the backslashes.

The reason is that you initially escape the ' by doing \'. Now however you have two characters to escape so \ goes to \\ and ' goes to \' again giving \\\'.

answered Mar 19 '14 at 13:32

Chris

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:53

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How to escape single quote

Try using the character values with the & symbol to escape quotes.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:53

Community

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answered Mar 19 '14 at 13:30

mcon

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Thanks. I tried using the character value but it behaved just as if I had tried escaping it with a single back slash. I still got the same html and the onclick fails. – kombat Mar 19 '14 at 13:39

jQuery.html() with single quotes

3 Answers3