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HTML Entity Encoder & Decoder
Encode characters like &, <, > and quotes as HTML entities so they display as text — or decode named and numeric entities such as © and 😀 back to characters.
0 characters
Encoded text
When should you use the HTML Entity Encoder / Decoder?
- Showing code or HTML tags as text on a web page
- Reading text full of & and ' from an API or database
- Making special characters safe for HTML attributes and email templates
How to use the HTML Entity Encoder / Decoder
- 1
Choose Encode or Decode
Encode turns characters into entities. Decode turns entities back into characters.
- 2
Paste text
The result appears as you type.
- 3
Handle non-ASCII (optional)
When encoding, choose whether characters like é and 😀 stay as they are or become numeric entities.
- 4
Copy
Copy the result into your HTML or code.
Examples
Encoding HTML so it shows as text
Text
<p>Tom & Jerry's "show"</p>
Encoded
<p>Tom & Jerry's "show"</p>
Common errors and how to fix them
The page shows & instead of &- The text was encoded twice (& became &amp;). Decode it once and the browser will show &.
Some entity wasn't decoded- Check it ends with a semicolon, e.g. © not © — and names are case-sensitive.
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HTML Entity Encoder / Decoder FAQ
Codes that represent characters in HTML, like < for < and & for &. They let you show characters that would otherwise be read as HTML markup.
& and < always in text, and " or ' inside attribute values. > is usually encoded too for safety. Everything else can stay as normal UTF-8 characters.
Yes. Decoding uses the browser's own HTML parser, so all named entities (like é, —, ) and numeric ones (é, é) are supported.
Both are é. é uses the decimal code point and é uses hexadecimal. Browsers understand both.
Encoding text before inserting it into HTML is a key part of preventing cross-site scripting, but use your framework's built-in escaping in real applications.
No. Encoding and decoding happen in your browser, without running any of the HTML.