## Syntax
```mermaid
%%{init: {
'theme': 'base',
'flowchart': { 'padding': '7', 'nodeSpacing': '20', 'rankSpacing': '20' },
'themeVariables': {
'fontSize': '11px',
'fontFamily': 'Arial'
}
}}%%
flowchart LR
Start((START)) --> JSONDECODE[JSONDECODE]:::quoted
JSONDECODE --> End((END))
```
## Purpose
The `JSONDECODE` SQL function returns the JSON encoded text as regular text, with the JSON representation of special characters replaced by their original meaning.
See also [[JSONELEMENT]] and [[JSONENCODE]].
Parameters:
- Input (`varchar2`): the input which will be decoded from JSON to text.
Returns: a text which is the input decoded from JSON as `varchar2`.
## Examples
The following example retrieves the text representation of a JSON representation:
```sql
select jsondecode('"Special characters such as backslash (\\) and quote (\")."')
----------------
Special characters such as backslash (\) and quote (").
```
The following example raises an error since the text is not a JSON representation:
```sql
select jsondecode('Special characters.')
```