# How can null characters in a string be ignored?
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598
**Category:** General
**Created:** [26 October 2022 06:40 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598 "2022-10-26T06:40:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@muharremsari](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/muharremsari)
#### Post date: [26 October 2022 06:40 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598/1 "2022-10-26T06:40:41Z")
I am getting a 12 character string value with a terminating character over TCP/IP. But I get a data type error in the debug message. "TypeError: The argument 'newPath' must be a string or Uint8Array without null bytes. Received 'D:registration42026659000Bx00.ravi'. What could be the reason? Regards
---
### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [26 October 2022 07:04 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598/2 "2022-10-26T07:04:03Z")
somewhere in your flow you append `d:\` and `???.ravi` to that string right?
It certainly looks like the `???` is `null`
Show us more info like your flow or any function code that generates that file name
---
### Author:  [@muharremsari](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/muharremsari)
#### Post date: [26 October 2022 08:37 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598/3 "2022-10-26T08:37:27Z")
```auto
[
{
"id": "9503357ecd6ba5f6",
"type": "tcp in",
"z": "ea87b1398b776bca",
"name": "L2 COIL ID",
"server": "server",
"host": "",
"port": "2001",
"datamode": "stream",
"datatype": "utf8",
"newline": "",
"topic": "",
"trim": false,
"base64": false,
"tls": "",
"x": 140,
"y": 380,
"wires": [
[
"2ba89f82.e7991",
"a7b2c1d1fe0681e5",
"7a876ca634443420"
]
]
},
{
"id": "7a876ca634443420",
"type": "delay",
"z": "ea87b1398b776bca",
"name": "Record out time for file saving.",
"pauseType": "delay",
"timeout": "90",
"timeoutUnits": "seconds",
"rate": "1",
"nbRateUnits": "1",
"rateUnits": "second",
"randomFirst": "1",
"randomLast": "5",
"randomUnits": "seconds",
"drop": false,
"allowrate": false,
"outputs": 1,
"x": 530,
"y": 440,
"wires": [
[
"33e06930.8b5856"
]
]
},
{
"id": "33e06930.8b5856",
"type": "fs-ops-dir",
"z": "ea87b1398b776bca",
"name": "",
"path": "D:\\cam",
"pathType": "str",
"filter": "*.ravi",
"filterType": "str",
"dir": "files[0]",
"dirType": "msg",
"x": 740,
"y": 440,
"wires": [
[
"567fa9ed.c8bd88"
]
]
},
{
"id": "567fa9ed.c8bd88",
"type": "function",
"z": "ea87b1398b776bca",
"name": "",
"func": "msg.test123 = msg.payload+\".ravi\";\nreturn msg;",
"outputs": 1,
"noerr": 0,
"initialize": "",
"finalize": "",
"libs": [],
"x": 890,
"y": 440,
"wires": [
[
"363603f0.472b6c"
]
]
},
{
"id": "363603f0.472b6c",
"type": "fs-ops-move",
"z": "ea87b1398b776bca",
"name": "",
"sourcePath": "D:\\cam",
"sourcePathType": "str",
"sourceFilename": "files[0]",
"sourceFilenameType": "msg",
"destPath": "D:\\kayit",
"destPathType": "str",
"destFilename": "test123",
"destFilenameType": "msg",
"link": false,
"x": 1060,
"y": 440,
"wires": [
[
"7be896a9b5f97561"
]
]
},
{
"id": "7be896a9b5f97561",
"type": "debug",
"z": "ea87b1398b776bca",
"name": "debug 3",
"active": true,
"tosidebar": true,
"console": false,
"tostatus": false,
"complete": "false",
"statusVal": "",
"statusType": "auto",
"x": 1280,
"y": 440,
"wires": []
}
]
```
---
### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [26 October 2022 09:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598/4 "2022-10-26T09:18:55Z")
---
### Author:  [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)
#### Post date: [26 October 2022 12:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598/5 "2022-10-26T12:00:13Z")
I think that you need to trim the input msg.payload string, it appears to have a spurious null on the end.
You can do that using a function node and javascript or using a change node using JSONata.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [25 December 2022 12:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-can-null-characters-in-a-string-be-ignored/69598/6 "2022-12-25T12:00:42Z")
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