Determine if string is in base64 using JavaScript

Question

I\'m using the window.atob(\'string\') function to decode a string from base64 to a string. Now I wonder, is there any way to check that \'string\' is actually

Answer 1

If you want to check whether it can be decoded or not, you can simply try decoding it and see whether it failed:

try {
    window.atob(str);
} catch(e) {
    // something failed

    // if you want to be specific and only catch the error which means
    // the base 64 was invalid, then check for 'e.code === 5'.
    // (because 'DOMException.INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR === 5')
}

Answer 2

If "valid" means "only has base64 chars in it" then check against /[A-Za-z0-9+/=]/.

If "valid" means a "legal" base64-encoded string then you should check for the = at the end.

If "valid" means it's something reasonable after decoding then it requires domain knowledge.

Answer 3

This method attempts to decode then encode and compare to the original. Could also be combined with the other answers for environments that throw on parsing errors. Its also possible to have a string that looks like valid base64 from a regex point of view but is not actual base64.

if(btoa(atob(str))==str){
  //...
}

Answer 4

I would use a regular expression for that. Try this one:

/^([0-9a-zA-Z+/]{4})*(([0-9a-zA-Z+/]{2}==)|([0-9a-zA-Z+/]{3}=))?$/

Explanation:

^                          # Start of input
([0-9a-zA-Z+/]{4})*        # Groups of 4 valid characters decode
                           # to 24 bits of data for each group
(                          # Either ending with:
    ([0-9a-zA-Z+/]{2}==)   # two valid characters followed by ==
    |                      # , or
    ([0-9a-zA-Z+/]{3}=)    # three valid characters followed by =
)?                         # , or nothing
$                          # End of input