TextDecoder

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Table of Contents

  1. Properties
  2. Constructor
  3. Methods
  4. Specifications
  5. Browser compatibility
  6. See also

This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for the proper prefixes to use in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the spec changes.

The TextDecoder interface represents a decoder for a specific method, that is a specific character encoding, like utf-8, iso-8859-2, koi8, cp1261, gbk, ... A decoder takes a stream of bytes as input and emits a stream of code points.

Properties

The TextDecoder interface doesn't inherit any property.

TextDecoder.encoding Read only
Is a DOMString containing the name of the decoder, that is a string describing the method the TextDecoder will use.

Constructor

TextDecoder()
Returns a newly constructed TextDecoder that will generate a code point stream with the decoding method specified in parameters.

Methods

The TextDecoder interface doesn't inherit any method.

TextDecoder.decode()
Returns a DOMString containing the text decoded with the method of the specific TextDecoder object.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
Encoding Living Standard Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support Not supported 19.0 (19.0) [1] Not supported ? Not supported
Available in Web Workers Not supported 20.0 (20.0) Not supported ? Not supported
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Firefox OS IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support Not supported 19.0 (19.0) [1] 1.0.1 (19.0) Not supported ? Not supported
Available in Web Workers Not supported 20.0 (20.0) 1.0.1 (20.0) Not supported ? Not supported

[1] An earlier, and slightly different, version of the specification was implemented in Firefox 18.

See also

  • The TextEncoder interface describing the inverse operation.
  • A shim allowing to use this interface in browsers that don't support it.

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