HTML Entity Encoder & Decoder

Escape HTML special characters to prevent XSS or decode entities.

Category: Developer

How to Use HTML Entity Encoder & Decoder

  1. Paste or type your input string, code snippet, or text block into the html entity encoder & decoder editor.
  2. Configure formatting rules, target case, indent spacing, or encoding parameters.
  3. Click Process to execute the transformation instantly inside browser memory.
  4. Copy the formatted output or download it as a text file.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are HTML entities and why are they necessary?

HTML entities are coded character sequences used in markup to display reserved characters or non-keyboard symbols. For example, '<' is reserved to start an HTML tag, so displaying a literal less-than symbol requires the entity '&lt;' to prevent browser parser errors.

Which characters must be escaped to prevent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)?

The five essential characters that must always be escaped in untrusted user text before rendering in HTML context are ampersand (&amp;), less-than (&lt;), greater-than (&gt;), double quotes (&quot;), and single quotes (&#039;).

What is the difference between named entities and numeric entities?

Named entities use mnemonic names (e.g., &copy; for copyright, &euro; for Euro). Numeric entities reference the character's Unicode code point in decimal (&#169;) or hexadecimal (&#xA9;). Numeric entities have universal browser support across all character sets.

How do I decode HTML entities back to readable plain text?

Select the 'Decode' mode and paste entity-encoded markup into the editor. The engine converts named, decimal, and hexadecimal entities back into standard UTF-8 characters.

Does this tool modify script or style tags?

In encode mode, all HTML tags (including <script> and <style>) have their angle brackets escaped into safe text strings, neutralizing any executable HTML content.