Apex : Escape character issue in json deserialization

Question

I have an api response which is been parsed to a map using JSON.deserializeUntyped function. In the response , i have a key value pair as: '{"primaryuser": "test\\test"}'

When i try to fetch it from the map , i need the backslash character. But below string is obtained :

test\test.

Now since backslash character is escaped , when i try to find backslash character , it doesn't showup.

Please find below code for reproducing this issue :

String str = '{"primaryuser": "test\\test"}'; 
Map<String,Object> maps= (Map<String,Object>)JSON.deserializeUntyped(str);
System.debug('str '+str);
System.debug('value '+maps.get('primaryuser'));

Below is the debug log which i'am getting :

18:42:44.27 (29338484)|USER_DEBUG|[4]|DEBUG|value test  est

Answer 1

On deserialization, you are successfully escaping the backslash, which makes the deserialized string 'test\test'

\t is the escape sequence for a tab, which is exactly what you're seeing in your example output ('test\test' ==> 'test est').

To solve this problem, you need more backslashes (a total of 4, to be precise).

'test\\\\test' is deserialized to 'test\\test', which when printed will appear as 'test\test'.

Alternatively, replacing backslashes for a forward slash would also work. Using your example code:

String str = '{"primaryuser": "test\\test"}';
str = str.replace('\\', '\\\\'); //str.replace('\\', '/'); // replacing with a forward slash would also work
Map<String,Object> maps= (Map<String,Object>)JSON.deserializeUntyped(str);
System.debug('str '+str);
System.debug('value '+maps.get('primaryuser'));

Answer 2

This will fix the issue, but if you are pulling in the value from elsewhere you may need to do a quick replace to get to this

String str = '{"primaryuser": "test\\/test"}';