How to solve : "Bad control character in string literal in JSON" ?

[User205031]

Hi All,

I am trying to pass rejection comments through JSON once the RITM state is rejected.

The JSON payload is :

But I am getting the below error in the response body:

How can I solve this issue?

Thanks in advance!

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@User205031 

some invalid character is being transferred and hence the error

just before including comments, strip the invalid characters

see this

JSON encoding - String contains control character 

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[Ravi Gaurav]

Hi @User205031 
----------------------------

{
"decision": "rejected",
"ritm": "RITM005348616",
"comment": "11/04/2025 01:22:26 AM - Ravi (...) rejectingggggggggggggg\n"
}
Always wrap your JSON in JSON.stringify() rather than manually concatenating strings:
var payload = {
decision: "rejected",
ritm: "RITM005348616",
comment: "Rejected due to missing details"
};
var requestBody = JSON.stringify(payload);
-------------------
If you’re building the JSON dynamically in ServiceNow, use:
var payload = {};
payload.decision = "rejected";
payload.ritm = current.number.toString();
payload.comment = gs.nowDateTime() + " - " + gs.getUserDisplayName() + " (Comments) " + comments.replace(/\r?\n/g, "\\n");
var body = JSON.stringify(payload);

That .replace(/\r?\n/g, "\\n") ensures any line breaks in the comment field are properly escaped before converting to JSON.

[User205031]

Hi @Ravi Gaurav ,

 I have written the below script in the 'Script Step' section:

(function execute(inputs, outputs) {

// ... code ...

var ritmNo = inputs.ritm_no.sys_id;

var stateValue = inputs.state;

var grApproval = new GlideRecord('sysapproval_approver');

    grApproval.addQuery('document_id', ritmNo);

    grApproval.addQuery('state', stateValue); // Filter for rejected approvals

    grApproval.orderByDesc('sys_created_on'); // Get the most recent rejection

    grApproval.query();

    var rejectionComments = '';

    if (grApproval.next()) {

        rejectionComments = grApproval.comments.getJournalEntry(-1); // Get rejection comments

    }

    // Output the rejection comments for use in subsequent flow steps

    outputs.comment = JSON.stringify(rejectionComments);

})(inputs, outputs);

The in the REST step, I am passing the request body:

How do I modify the code?

Thanks!

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@User205031 

update as this -> why are you using stringify when you simply want comments text

outputs.comment = rejectionComments;

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