Unicode Escape
\uXXXX, \u{...}, U+XXXX and HTML entity notations.
โAbout the Unicode Escape
Escape text into five Unicode notations โ \uXXXX for JS and JSON, \u{...} for ES6, a U+ code point list, and HTML numeric entities in hex or decimal โ or decode any of them back to characters. Astral characters like emoji are handled correctly, including surrogate pair output for the \uXXXX form.
How to use the Unicode Escape
- Choose the Encode or Decode tab.
- Pick a notation from the dropdown, for example \uXXXX (JS/JSON).
- Type text to escape, or paste escaped text to unescape.
- Copy the result from the output box.
Unicode Escape FAQ
Why does an emoji become two \u escapes?
The \uXXXX notation only reaches code points up to U+FFFF, so characters beyond that are written as a UTF-16 surrogate pair โ two four-digit escapes that JavaScript and JSON reassemble correctly.
Which notation should I pick?
Use \uXXXX for JSON and classic JavaScript strings, \u{...} for modern ES6 code, U+ for documentation and design specs, and the HTML entity forms for web pages with restricted encodings.
Does decoding handle mixed input?
Each notation mode decodes its own escape style; paste input in the matching notation, and HTML entity decoding accepts both hex and decimal references.