Why do template literals like 'some ${string}' or "some ${string}" not actually insert the values of mentioned expressions?

Question

I wanted to try using template literals and it’s not working: it’s displaying the literal variable names, instead of the values. I am using Chrome v50.0.2 (and jQuery).

Example

console.log('categoryName: ${this.categoryName}\ncategoryElements: ${this.categoryElements} ');

Output

${this.categoryName}
categoryElements: ${this.categoryElements}

Answer 1

JavaScript template literals require backticks, not straight quotation marks.

You need to use backticks (otherwise known as "grave accents" - which you'll find next to the 1 key if you're using a QWERTY keyboard) - rather than single quotes - to create a template literal.

Backticks are common in many programming languages but may be new to JavaScript developers.

Example:

categoryName="name";
categoryElements="element";
console.log(`categoryName: ${this.categoryName}\ncategoryElements: ${categoryElements} `) 

Output:

VM626:1 categoryName: name 
categoryElements: element

See:

Usage of the backtick character (`) in JavaScript