---
type: "fhirpath-function"
title: "FHIRPath Function: escape"
function: "escape"
category: "Additional String Functions"
section: "5.7.3"
source: "fhirpath/functions.json"
---
# FHIRPath Function: escape
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The escape function takes a singleton string and escapes it for a given target, as specified in the following table:
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|html |The string is escaped such that it can appear as valid HTML content (at least open bracket (`<`), ampersand (`&`), and quotes (`"`), but ideally anything with a character encoding above 127) |
|=|=|
|json |The string is escaped such that it can appear as a valid JSON string (quotes (`"`) are escaped as (`\"`)); additional escape characters are described in the [String](#string) escape section|
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If the input is empty, the result is empty.
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If no target is specified, the result is empty.
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## Summary
- **Category**: Additional String Functions
- **Section**: `5.7.3`
- **Return Type**: `String`
- **Empty Input Result**: `empty`
- **Errors on Multiple Input**: `true`
## Description
The escape function takes a singleton string and escapes it for a given target. Available targets are html and json.
## Arguments
- `target`: `String` - Target format (html, json)
## Type Mapping
- `String-String`
## Example
```fhirpath
'"test"'.escape('json') // returns '\"test\"'
```