Java Escape / Unescape

Round-trip Java string literals — escape quotes, backslashes, newlines, and Unicode sequences

Mode:

Input

Loading editor...

Output

Output will appear here...

What is Java Escape / Unescape

Last reviewed: April 18, 2026

Java is a statically typed, object-oriented language used heavily in enterprise backends, Android development, and large-scale distributed systems.

Java Escape / Unescape converts arbitrary text into a Java-safe string literal or reverses the operation. It escapes non-ASCII characters as \uNNNN and handles \n, \t, \b, \f, \r, \", and \'.

It is a daily driver for Java developers embedding literals in code generators, writing test fixtures, parsing .properties files, or decoding minified Kotlin output.

Why use it

Embed user-provided strings in generated Java code.
Round-trip literals from .properties and .xml files.
Decode Unicode-escaped Java exceptions in logs.
Create safe unit-test fixtures with multi-line content.
Translate Kotlin escape sequences that follow the same rules.

Features

Round-trips Java, Kotlin, Scala string literals
Encodes non-ASCII as \uNNNN
Handles \n, \t, \b, \f, \r, \", \'
Java never leaves your machine
Perfect for .properties files

How to use Java Escape / Unescape

Choose direction. Pick Escape or Unescape in the control bar.
Paste content. Drop plain text (escape) or a Java literal (unescape).
Run. Copy the result into your Java, Kotlin, or Scala source.

Example (before/after)

Raw text

"Hello" – world
Zürich

Java escaped

\"Hello\" \u2013 world\nZ\u00fcrich

Common errors

Surrogate pair output

Some tools emit invalid single \u escapes for astral chars.

Fix: This tool encodes BMP chars; beyond-BMP characters should use pre-split surrogate pairs.

Expected ASCII-only output

By default, non-ASCII is escaped as \uNNNN.

Fix: That's intentional — perfect for Java .properties files.

FAQ

Is the output ASCII-safe?

Yes — any character outside 0x20–0x7E is encoded as \uNNNN.

Does it work for Kotlin / Scala?

Yes — the same escape rules apply.

Does it preserve emoji?

Only within the Basic Multilingual Plane. Astral chars need explicit surrogate pairs.

How are Windows newlines handled?

\r\n is preserved on unescape; escape produces \r\n sequences.

Is data uploaded?

No — everything runs client-side.

Related tools

Pair Java escape with JSON, XML, and C# helpers when porting between ecosystems. You can also browse the full Encoders & Decoders category for more options.

C# Escape / Unescape

Escape or unescape C# string literals including \x, \u, and \U Unicode escape sequences

XML Escape / Unescape

Escape or unescape XML special characters and numeric entities with one click

JSON Escape

Escape JSON special characters

JavaScript Escape / Unescape

Escape or unescape JavaScript string literals with backslash, quote, Unicode, and control-character handling

HTML Entities <-> Text Converter

Convert text to HTML entities or decode HTML entities back to text in a single bidirectional tool

SQL Escape / Unescape

Escape or unescape SQL string literals using standard single-quote doubling

Java Escape

Escape strings for Java

JSON Stringify

Wrap a raw string in a JSON string literal — perfect for embedding content in a JSON payload

XML Stringify

Wrap an XML document in a JSON string literal for safe embedding in payloads

HTML Encoder/Decoder

Encode or decode HTML entities

HTML Entities Encoder

Encode text to HTML entities

JSON Encode/Decode

Encode or decode JSON strings