TextDecoder

The TextDecoder interface represents a decoder for a specific method, that is a specific character encoding, like utf-8, iso-8859-2, koi8, cp1261, gbk, ... A decoder takes a stream of bytes as input and emits a stream of code points. For a more scalable, non-native library, see StringView – a C-like representation of strings based on typed arrays.

Example

let win1251decoder = new TextDecoder('windows-1251');
let bytes = new Uint8Array([207, 240, 232, 226, 229, 242, 44, 32, 236, 232, 240, 33]);
console.log(win1251decoder.decode(bytes)); // Привет, мир!

Properties

The TextDecoder interface doesn't inherit any properties.

TextDecoder.encoding Read only

Is a DOMString containing the name of the decoder, that is a string describing the method the TextDecoder will use.

TextDecoder.fatal Read only

Is a Boolean indicating whether the error mode is fatal.

TextDecoder.ignoreBOM Read only

Is a Boolean indicating whether the byte order marker is ignored.

Constructor

TextDecoder()

Returns a newly constructed TextDecoder that will generate a code point stream with the decoding method specified in parameters.

Methods

The TextDecoder interface doesn't inherit any method.

TextDecoder.decode()

Returns a DOMString containing the text decoded with the method of the specific TextDecoder object.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Encoding The definition of 'TextDecoder' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

[1] An earlier, and slightly different, version of the specification was implemented in Firefox 18.

See also

• The TextEncoder interface describing the inverse operation.
• StringView – a C-like representation of strings based on typed arrays
• A shim allowing to use this interface in browsers that don't support it.
• Components.utils.importGlobalProperties