String literal causes "Unexpected token ILLEGAL" in Chrome, Firefox

Question

Here's the entire document that causes the error in Firefox and Chrome:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <script>
        var strs = [], scripts = ['harbl.js'], s = 0;
        strs.push('<script src="' + scripts[s] + '"></script>');
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <p>buh...</p>
</body>
</html>

http://jsfiddle.net/cryptoquick/J4zZT/

The error I get is:

Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token ILLEGAL

This has me really puzzled.

@Sednus what is the point of that? – Ian Oct 02 '12 at 03:25 — Ian, Oct 02 '12 at 03:25

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 01 '12 at 18:39

9

The </script> literal is parsed by the browser as it's not aware of the context when traversing your code. You have to escape it like so : <\/script>. It's a known problem.

answered Oct 01 '12 at 18:39

Tim Lamballais

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Thanks bro! I'll acknowledge your answer in... 10 minutes. :) – Hunter Beast Oct 01 '12 at 18:43

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 01 '12 at 18:40

3

Change it to:

strs.push('<script src="' + scripts[s] + '"></s' + 'cript>');

answered Oct 01 '12 at 18:40

Ian

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Heh, that's one way to do it... :) – Hunter Beast Oct 01 '12 at 18:43
I forget why, but this is how I saw it done a loooooong time ago. Didn't know about the answer from @TimLamballais so that's good to know. – Ian Oct 01 '12 at 18:44
1

Yeah I guess this is a solution that was floating around the net a long time ago, I've seen it before in legacy code. – Tim Lamballais Oct 01 '12 at 18:45

score -1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

-1

Front Slash '/' is considered as special character . It's the cause for the error .

strs.push('<script src="' + scripts[s] + '"><\/script>');

Please read this post for more information JavaScript and forward slashes in strings .

edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

Community

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answered Oct 01 '12 at 19:00

kannanrbk

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String literal causes "Unexpected token ILLEGAL" in Chrome, Firefox

3 Answers3