JavaScript (ES2026) reference · String Methods

JavaScript String normalize() Method

Return the Unicode normalization form of a string so visually identical text compares equal (NFC, NFD, NFKC, NFKD).

JavaScript (ES2026) Since ES2015

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Syntax

string.normalize(form)

Parameter	Description
`form` optional	`"NFC"`, `"NFD"`, `"NFKC"` or `"NFKD"`. Default: `"NFC"`

A new string.

Make equal-looking text equalTry it yourself

const a = "caf\u00e9", b = "cafe\u0301";
console.log(a === b, a.normalize() === b.normalize(), a.length, b.length);

Output

false true 4 5

Remove accents for searchTry it yourself

const stripAccents = (s) => s.normalize("NFD").replace(/\p{Diacritic}/gu, "");
console.log(stripAccents("Crème brûlée"));

Output

Creme brulee

Version	Change
JavaScript ES2015	Added

string.localeCompare() · Compare two strings using language rules; returns a negative number, 0 or a positive number. Use it to sort names.
string.isWellFormed() · Return true if the string has no lone surrogates, i.e. it can be safely encoded as UTF-8.
JavaScript Strings · tutorial
JavaScript String Methods · tutorial