jQuery unexpected token illegal for \n

Question

Any time I use \n anywhere in javascript/jQuery the browser throws

uncaught syntaxerror: unexpected token illegal

I found ways to work around adding new lines without using \n, but I can't find a work around to read the \n from a textarea without using \n. I am using a mac pro mavericks with the chrome browser version 36. The code is output from a php script from a linux server. I have also tried in firefox and get an equivilent error. Examples include:

var line = $('#textareaid').val().split("\n");
var line = $('#textareaid').val().split("\r\n");
var some = "This is\nsome text";

All of the examples have the error as well as any other use of \n. I have been unable to find any reference to \n not working, but plenty of examples of its use.

@epascarello True, I've never had a problem with it before. Just speculating. — imtheman, Aug 21 '14 at 20:03
possible duplicate of [SyntaxError: Unexpected token ILLEGAL](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12719859/syntaxerror-unexpected-token-illegal) — imtheman, Aug 21 '14 at 20:04
I'm guessing that PHP is printing actual line breaks, not literally as above. So \\n would be correct at the PHP level. — Tim, Aug 21 '14 at 20:05

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 21 '14 at 20:02

3

try this-

var line = $('#textareaid').val().split("\\n");

answered Aug 21 '14 at 20:02

Cute_Ninja

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This is exactly how I did it and now works. I thought I had tried like this before, but the doctype was messing it up. Thanks. – user3830357 Aug 21 '14 at 20:54

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 21 '14 at 20:08

1

There is nothing wrong with "\n" in JavaScript, but if your PHP is script is printing literal line breaks, your JavaScript will be invalid.

This PHP:

echo "split(\"\n\")";

Will print this:

split("
")

Which would raise a JavaScript syntax error.

So the PHP should be:

echo "split(\"\\n\")";

answered Aug 21 '14 at 20:08

Tim

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I had tried the double slash before, but I was in doctype which is why it didn't work. Works now. Thanks. – user3830357 Aug 21 '14 at 20:53

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 22 '14 at 01:28

0

As '\n' is an escape sequence so you have to use an additional backslash as shown below:

$('#textareaid').val().split("\\n");

answered Aug 22 '14 at 01:28

Viswanath Donthi

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jQuery unexpected token illegal for \n

3 Answers3