How to Escape HTML So It Shows as Text
By Tools Star Hub Editorial Team · Published
HTML encoding replaces characters that would start a tag or an entity, so the browser shows them instead of running them. A less-than sign becomes <, a greater-than sign becomes >, an ampersand becomes &, a double quote becomes ", and an apostrophe becomes '.
Decode turns common named entities and numeric character references back into characters. The text is never inserted as a page, and it is never run.
How to encode or decode HTML
- Paste the markup or the entities. Encode starts from characters you want to display. Decode starts from entities.
- Press Encode or Decode. Copy the result. Encoded tags can be shown in a tutorial or a comment.
- Expect common entities on the way back. An uncommon named entity can stay as typed. The decoder covers common named entities and numeric references.
- Use a different tool to convert a document. Markdown to HTML and HTML to Markdown convert between those writings. This page only escapes or unescapes characters.
Example
A tag with an ampersand
The markup <div class="x">Hello & welcome</div> encodes to <div class="x">Hello & welcome</div>.
FAQ
- Will the HTML run on this page?
- No. The input is treated as text. It is not inserted with innerHTML.
- Why encode the ampersand?
- An unescaped ampersand starts an entity. & shows an ampersand.
- What does decode accept?
- Common named entities and numeric character references. An uncommon name can remain as you typed it.
- Is this a minifier?
- No. A minifier removes space from markup. This tool changes special characters into entities, or the reverse.
To show a tag as text, or to turn entities back into characters, use the HTML Encoder.