Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global objects/decodeURIComponent

The decodeURIComponent() function decodes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) component previously created by encodeURIComponent or by a similar routine.

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Syntax

decodeURIComponent(encodedURI)

Parameters

encodedURI: An encoded component of a Uniform Resource Identifier.

Return value

A new string representing the decoded version of the given encoded Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) component.

Exceptions

Throws an URIError ("malformed URI sequence") exception when used wrongly.

Description

Replaces each escape sequence in the encoded URI component with the character that it represents.

Examples

Decoding a Cyrillic URL component

decodeURIComponent('JavaScript_%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%D1%8B');
// "JavaScript_шеллы"

Catching errors

try { 
  var a = decodeURIComponent('%E0%A4%A'); 
} catch(e) { 
  console.error(e); 
}

// URIError: malformed URI sequence

Decoding query parameters from a URL

decodeURIComponent cannot be used directly to parse query parameters from a URL. It needs a bit of preparation.

function decodeQueryParam(p) {
  return decodeURIComponent(p.replace(/\+/g, ' '));
}

decodeQueryParam('search+query%20%28correct%29');
// 'search query (correct)'

Specifications

Specification

ECMAScript (ECMA-262)The definition of 'decodeURIComponent' in that specification.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	Node.js
`decodeURIComponent`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 7	Safari Full support 1.1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support 0.1.100

Legend

Full support: Full support