Javascript Newline Character Throwing Error

Question

I am having trouble getting some data from a textbox using javascript. What I am trying to do is take the value from a textbox and put it in an alert and copy it. Here is the code that I currently have:

var copyString = "Date: <%= TXT_Details_DateReq.Text %>;
window.prompt('Press CTRL+C, then ENTER\n\nNOTE: SAVE ANY CHANGES BEFORE COPYING TEXT!', copyString); return false;

So this code works perfectly fine if the text in the textbox is just one line. But if the text in the textbox has multiple lines such as:

"This is one line
here is a second line"

The code will throw the error Uncaught Syntax Error: Unexpected Token ILLEGAL. From what I have researched this throws when there is an illegal character, so I believe it is the CRLF character from the textbox.

Any idea how to fix this?

Thanks.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string.replace%28v=vs.110%29.aspx — Andreas, Feb 02 '15 at 16:18
The newline with it escaped version - `\n` (or `Environment.NewLine`) -> `\\n` — Andreas, Feb 02 '15 at 16:21
But I am passing it a textbox value so I won't be able to know where the \n is in the value. — Chase Ernst, Feb 02 '15 at 16:23
What do you mean by "textbox"? Is it an `` element or a `` element? — Pointy, Feb 02 '15 at 16:24
_so I won't be able to know where the \n is in the value_ - You haven't read the documentation...? `.Text.Replace(Environment.NewLine, "\\n")` — Andreas, Feb 02 '15 at 16:27
Yes I read it, I was just confused. This did work though. Thank you. — Chase Ernst, Feb 02 '15 at 16:32

score -1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

-1

New line characters might be preceded by return characters ('\r').

Swap '\n' with '\r\n' and you should be good to go.

Or even better: just handle all cases of the new line character instead of checking which case then applying it. This replace the newline:

htmlstring = stringContainingNewLines.replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)/gm, "<br>");

Resource

hope it helps.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

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answered Feb 02 '15 at 16:27

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This is for Javascript. The text with the newline is from a server control, so the value has to be replaced on the server and not on the client. Furthermore a `
` tag won't work at all in a prompt. – Andreas Feb 02 '15 at 16:34
The main tag on the OP _is_ Javascript. – U r s u s Feb 02 '15 at 16:37
And how you think you can fix the `Uncaught Syntax Error: Unexpected Token ILLEGAL` error in the Javascript part with Javascript?! – Andreas Feb 02 '15 at 16:38

Javascript Newline Character Throwing Error

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