TextDecoder: decode() method

BaselineWidely 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 inWeb Workers.

TheTextDecoder.decode() method returns a string containing text decoded from the buffer passed as a parameter.

The decoding method is defined in the currentTextDecoder object.This includes the expected encoding of the data, and how decoding errors are handled.

Syntax

decode()decode(buffer)decode(buffer, options)

Parameters

bufferOptional

AnArrayBuffer, aTypedArray, or aDataView object 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 todecode().Set totrue if processing the data in chunks, andfalse for the final chunk or if the data is not chunked.It defaults tofalse.

Exceptions

TypeError: Thrown if there is a decoding error when the propertyTextDecoder.fatal istrue.

Return value

A string.

Examples

This example encodes and decodes the euro symbol, €.

HTML

html

<p>Encoded value: <span></span></p><p>Decoded value: <span></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;