Gain More Knowledge

Javascript Tip: Convert string to unicode values

The following script will convert a string to the unicode values using javascript.
toUnicode is a extension to String.charCodeAt. The benefit of this function is that it returns the whole string a html unicode format.

Code

String.prototype.toUnicode = function () {
    var uni = [],
        i = this.length;
    while (i--) {
        uni[i] = this.charCodeAt(i);
    }
    return "" + uni.join(';') + ";";
};

Here’s another method that I thought of.
This one is using a regexp instead of a while loop and an array to form the unicode text.

String.prototype.toUnicode = function () {
    return this.replace(/./g, function (char) {
        return "" + String.charCodeAt(char) + ";";
    });
};

Usage:
Call toUnicode() on any string object.

obj.toUnicode();

Example:

“

”.toUnicode() //outputs: <li/>

However, if possible use document.createTextNode to insert text instead of converting it to unicode. Document.createTextNode is a native DOM method meaning it’s a lot faster, and easier to understand .
More infor here: document.createTextNode

Larry Battle

I love to program, and discover new tech. Check out my stackoverflow and github accounts.

Next What are Sig Figs? Tutorial »

Previous « The Key to Success

View Comments

Larry says:

October 30, 2009 at 3:58 pm

Alternative link:
http://buildingonmud.blogspot.com/2009/06/convert-string-to-unicode-in-javascript.html
Dany Paredes says:

October 25, 2012 at 2:36 am

Nice solution :)

Keep Coding
jake says:

March 24, 2016 at 9:15 am

Thanks for this solution, This fixed a submission form that sent the contents to email. The submission form will be filled out in over 15 different languages, and this will 'translate'/encode them to english for the email client
- Larry Battle says:
  
  March 24, 2016 at 12:22 pm
  
  So much has changed since 2009. I would suggest using a library dedicated to this task.
  Check this out: https://github.com/bestiejs/punycode.js