Escaping backslash in string - javascript

Question

I need to show the name of the currently selected file (in <input type="file"> element).

Everything is fine, the only problem is I'm getting this kind of string "C:\fakepath \typog_rules.pdf" (browset automatically puts this as value for the input element).

When I try to split the string by '\' or '\\' it fails because of unescaped slashes. Attempts to match/replace slashes fails too. Is there a way around this? I need this to work at least in Opera and IE (because in other browsers I can use FileReader)

E.G. I'm getting "C:\fakepath\typog_rules.pdf" as input and want to get "typog_rules.pdf" as output.

Solution 1

For security reasons, it is not possible to get the real, full path of a file, referred through an <input type="file" /> element.

This question already mentions, and links to other Stack Overflow questions regarding this topic.

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Previous answer, kept as a reference for future visitors who reach this page through the title, tags and question.

string = string.split("\\");

In JavaScript, the backslash is used to escape special characters, such as newlines (\n). If you want to use a literal backslash, a double backslash has to be used.

So, if you want to match two backslashes, four backslashes has to be used. For example,alert("\\\\") will show a dialog containing two backslashes.

Solution 2

I think this is closer to the answer you're looking for:

<input type="file">

$file = $(file);
var filename = fileElement[0].files[0].name;

Solution 3

Escape the backslash character.

foo.split('\\')

Solution 4

Slightly hacky, but it works:

const input = '\text';
const output = JSON.stringify(input).replace(/((^")|("$))/g, "").trim();

console.log({ input, output });
// { input: '\text', output: '\\text' }

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