How to use template literals and tagged templates in JavaScript

· Category: JavaScript

Short answer

Template literals use backticks for interpolation and multiline strings. Tagged templates let a function process the literal parts and values for custom formatting or sanitization.

Steps

  1. Basic interpolation: javascript const name = "Ada"; const msg = `Hello, ${name}`;
  2. Multiline strings: javascript const html = ` <div> <p>Text</p> </div> `;
  3. Tagged template: javascript function highlight(strings, ...values) { return strings.reduce((acc, str, i) => { const val = values[i] ? `<b>${values[i]}</b>` : ""; return acc + str + val; }, ""); } const out = highlight`Value: ${42}`;

Tips

  • Use String.raw to ignore escape sequences.
  • Tagged templates are useful for SQL query builders and HTML sanitization.

Common issues

  • Nesting template literals requires careful backtick escaping.
  • Returning an object literal from an arrow function requires parentheses: () => ({ a: 1 }).