Multiline Strings in JavaScript: 3 Ways to Simplify Your Life

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How to Assign a Multiline String to a Variable in JavaScript: A Beginner's Guide

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Have you ever written a long text in code and thought: "Can't I just press Enter and continue on a new line?" If you're new to JavaScript, you've probably already encountered this. You try to save a multiline text into a variable, but you get a syntax error. Sound familiar?

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The question "How can I assign a multiline string literal to a variable?" is one of the most popular on Stack Overflow. Thousands of developers are looking for an answer. And it's no surprise: working with multiline strings is a fundamental skill that everyone writing JavaScript needs to master.

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In this article, we won't just give a dry answer. We'll break down three working methods, show real-life examples, and suggest which method to choose so your code is clean, readable, and doesn't cause headaches.

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Why Doesn't JavaScript Like Line Breaks in Quotes?

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Let's get straight to the main problem. If you try to write like this:

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let message = "Hello!\nHow are you?\nEverything okay?";\nconsole.log(message);

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…you'll get an error SyntaxError: unterminated string literal. Why? Because in regular strings (in double or single quotes), JavaScript assumes the string ends on the same line it started. A physical line break breaks the string.

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But don't be upset. We have at least three ways to get around this limitation. And the first one is the most modern and convenient.

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Method 1: Template Literals — Your New Best Friend

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Starting with ES6 (ECMAScript 2015), JavaScript introduced template literals. These are strings enclosed in backticks (` `). And they solve the multiline problem once and for all.

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See how simple it is:

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let multilineString = `This is the first line.\nThis is the second line.\nAnd this is the third line.`;\n\nconsole.log(multilineString);\n// Output:\n// This is the first line.\n// This is the second line.\n// And this is the third line.

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It works out of the box. You just write text with line breaks, and JavaScript preserves them as is. No extra characters, no magic.

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Why is this the best option for beginners?

Readability: The code looks exactly as you intended.
Interpolation support: You can insert variables directly into the string using ${...}.
Standard: All modern browsers and Node.js support template literals.

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Example with interpolation:

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let name = "Anna";\nlet greeting = `Hello, ${name}!\nWelcome to PythonLib.\nToday is a great day to learn coding.`;\n\nconsole.log(greeting);\n// Output:\n// Hello, Anna!\n// Welcome to PythonLib.\n// Today is a great day to learn coding.

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This method is so convenient that it's used in 90% of cases in modern development. If you're just starting out, remember this one.

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Method 2: String Concatenation (Old but Reliable Method)

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Before template literals, developers used concatenation — joining strings with the + operator. This method is still relevant, especially if you're working with very old code or cannot use ES6 for some reason.

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Here's what it looks like:

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let multilineString = "This is the first line.\\n" +\n                     "This is the second line.\\n" +\n                     "And this is the third line.";\n\nconsole.log(multilineString);\n// Output:\n// This is the first line.\n// This is the second line.\n// And this is the third line.

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Notice the \\n — this is an escape sequence