JSON.parse - SyntaxError: Unexpected token & at Object.parse (native)

Question

I'm trying to parse the following string to JSON and it does not seem to work due to the ampersand character \&\#38. It throws an error on JSON.parse: SyntaxError: Unexpected token & at Object.parse (native)

{"pluginType":"cite","reference":{"title":"Mixed-Initiative Real-Time Topic Modeling \&\#38; Visualization for Crisis Counseling","url":"http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2678025.2701395","pages":"417--426","year":"2015","publisher":"ACM","_id":"56d59ced7eb2323d008fab24","label":"Dinakar2015MRT26780252701395"}}

Can this be escaped somehow? It seems like valid input for a user.

JSON.parse('{"pluginType":"cite","reference":{"title":"Mixed-Initiative Real-Time Topic Modeling \&\#38; Visualization for Crisis Counseling","url":"http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2678025.2701395","pages":"417--426","year":"2015","publisher":"ACM","_id":"56d59ced7eb2323d008fab24","label":"Dinakar2015MRT26780252701395"}}') parses fine for me. — 1252748
– 1252748, Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 20:25
@thomas That's because JS converts the literal '\&' into the string &. Try JSON.parse(String.raw`"\&"`) instead. — Oriol
– Oriol, Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 20:35

Glorfindel · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-04 06:03:59Z

1

An escaping \ can't precede &.

_{(source: json.org)}

If you wanted to escape &, just use & (there is no need to escape it).

document.write(JSON.parse(String.raw`"&"`));

If you wanted the string \&, you need to escape the \ like \\&.

document.write(JSON.parse(String.raw`"\\&"`));

edited Oct 4, 2019 at 6:03

Glorfindel

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answered Apr 5, 2016 at 20:27

Oriol

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2 Comments

Thariq Shihipar Over a year ago

Thank you! This is semi-automatically generated so I can't really prevent that from being inputted, but I want to not crash on it. Is there a javascript function that will escape characters like that properly? What are the other characters except & that I would need to escape?

Oriol Over a year ago

You must not escape & in JSON. Clarify if you wanted & or \&.

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