JSON Escaping and Encoding

Escape sequences, Unicode, URLs, embedded JSON strings, and encoding pitfalls when storing or transporting JSON.

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## Escaping basics

Escape a backslash

{
  "path": "C:\\Users\\Ada\\file.txt"
}

# Represent a literal backslash inside a string.

Escape a forward slash if needed

{
  "html": "<\/script>"
}

# Escaping `/` is optional in JSON.

Escape control characters

{
  "log": "first line
second line\r
third line"
}

# Use `\n`, `\r`, and `\t` for control characters.

## Encoding pitfalls

Prefer UTF-8 encoded JSON

Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8

# UTF-8 is the de facto standard for JSON payloads.

JSON string containing JSON

{
  "payload": "{\"event\":\"signup\",\"ok\":true}"
}

# Sometimes one field stores another JSON document as a string.

Decode embedded JSON with jq

jq '.payload | fromjson' event.json

# Parse a JSON string field into structured data.

Encode structured data as a JSON string

jq -n '{event:"signup",ok:true} | @json'

# Turn a value into a JSON-encoded string.

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