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JavaScript

Posted by Sungbin Oh
Sungbin Oh
7,659 Points

\" question

Why does alert("The string \"" + completeName + "\" is " + characterCount + " characters long."); works but alert("The string "\" + completeName + \" + " is " + characterCount + " characters long."); doesn't work?

Adam Beer
Adam Beer
11,314 Points

Show your whole code. It's hard to guess.

Code

Wrap your code with 3 backticks (```) on the line before and after. If you specify the language after the first set of backticks, that'll help us with syntax highlighting.

      ```html
      <p>This is code!</p>
      ```

1 Answer

Antti Lylander
Antti Lylander
9,686 Points
Antti Lylander
Antti Lylander
9,686 Points

\" is so called escape sequence used in strings. It removes the special meaning of " so that it can be used inside a string. If this is confusing, you can use different quotation marks (single or double) like this:

"this isn't a problem" or the other way around: 'he said "happy coding!"' but eventually you are going to need this: 'He said "don\'t mess with the quotes"'

alert("The string \"" + completeName + "\" is " + characterCount + " characters long.");
alert("The string "\" + completeName + \" + " is " + characterCount + " characters long.");

//lets break the second line's string in parts:
"The string "\" //this is missing closing quote
+ completeName //this is ok
+ \" //here you have forgotten the quotes around the string


alert("The string "\"" + completeName + "\"" + " is " + characterCount + " characters long."); //this should work

sorry if there are still errors, did not test my code. Anyhow, the problem is that you had not enclosed all the strings in double quotes properly.