JSON Encoder/Decoder
Safely escape special characters in your JSON strings for API transmission or database storage.
Understanding JSON Encoding
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is the standard for data interchange. However, when JSON needs to be sent inside other formats (like a query string, a CSV column, or another JSON object), it must be "escaped" or encoded.
This tool helps you:
- Encode: Turn `{"key": "value"}` into `"{\"key\": \"value\"}"`
- Decode: Turn escaped strings back into raw JSON objects.
Common Escape Characters
\"\\\n\r\t\/Common Use Cases
API Payloads
Sending a JSON object as a string property within another JSON payload requires escaping.
Database Storage
Storing JSON blobs in text-based database columns (like CSV or older SQL types) often needs escaping.
Debugging Logs
Reading escaped JSON from server logs and decoding it back to a readable format.
How to Encode JSON in Code
Most languages have built-in support for JSON serialization.
const data = { name: "Alice", role: "Dev" };
// 1. Convert object to JSON string
const jsonString = JSON.stringify(data);
// 2. Escape it (for embedding)
const escaped = JSON.stringify(jsonString);
console.log(escaped);
// Output: "{\"name\":\"Alice\",\"role\":\"Dev\"}"import json
data = {"name": "Alice", "role": "Dev"}
# Dump twice to escape
json_str = json.dumps(data)
escaped = json.dumps(json_str)
print(escaped)
# Output: "{\"name\": \"Alice\", \"role\": \"Dev\"}"$data = ["name" => "Alice", "role" => "Dev"];
// Encode object to JSON
$json = json_encode($data);
// Encode again to escape quotes
$escaped = json_encode($json);
echo $escaped;// Using Gson
Gson gson = new Gson();
MyObject obj = new MyObject("Alice");
String json = gson.toJson(obj);
String escaped = gson.toJson(json);
System.out.println(escaped);Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I see so many backslashes?
Backslashes `\` are the escape character. If you have nested content, you might see double escaping like `\\\\` which represents a single backslash inside an escaped string.
Is encoding the same as encryption?
No. Encoding is about data format and safety (making sure special chars don't break code). Encryption is about security (scrambling data so it can't be read). Encoded data is easily readable by anyone.
Can I restore the original object?
Yes. Use the "Decode" function. If it was encoded multiple times, you might need to decode it multiple times until you get the clean JSON object back.