TextDecoder: decode() method
Baseline
Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since January 2020.
Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.
The TextDecoder.decode() method returns a string containing text decoded from the buffer passed as a parameter.
The decoding method is defined in the current TextDecoder object.
This includes the expected encoding of the data, and how decoding errors are handled.
Syntax
decode()
decode(buffer)
decode(buffer, options)
Parameters
bufferOptional-
An
ArrayBuffer, aTypedArray, or aDataViewobject containing the encoded text to decode. optionsOptional-
An object with the property:
stream-
A boolean flag indicating whether additional data will follow in subsequent calls to
decode(). Set totrueif processing the data in chunks, andfalsefor the final chunk or if the data is not chunked. It defaults tofalse.
Exceptions
TypeError-
Thrown if there is a decoding error when the property
TextDecoder.fatalistrue.
Return value
A string.
Examples
This example encodes and decodes the euro symbol, €.
HTML
<p>Encoded value: <span id="encoded-value"></span></p>
<p>Decoded value: <span id="decoded-value"></span></p>
JavaScript
const encoder = new TextEncoder();
const array = encoder.encode("€"); // Uint8Array(3) [226, 130, 172]
document.getElementById("encoded-value").textContent = array;
const decoder = new TextDecoder();
const str = decoder.decode(array); // String "€"
document.getElementById("decoded-value").textContent = str;
Result
Specifications
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| Encoding # ref-for-dom-textdecoder-decode① |
Browser compatibility
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Legend
Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.
- Full support
- Full support
- Partial support
- Partial support
- See implementation notes.
- Has more compatibility info.
See also
- The
TextDecoderinterface it belongs to.