HTML Decode

What is HTML Decode?

HTML decoding refers to the process of converting HTML entities or character references back into their corresponding characters or symbols. In HTML, certain characters have special meanings and are represented using entity references or character references. However, in some cases, you may need to display these characters as they are without their special meaning.

HTML decoding is necessary when you encounter encoded entities or character references in HTML documents and want to display the actual characters they represent. For example, the HTML entity < represents the less-than symbol (<), and & represents the ampersand symbol (&). If you want to display these symbols as part of the content, you need to decode the HTML entities to their original characters.

HTML decoding can be performed using various methods, including programming languages, online tools, or dedicated libraries. Most programming languages provide built-in functions or methods to decode HTML entities. These functions or methods take a string containing encoded entities as input and return a decoded string with the entities replaced by their corresponding characters.

The process of HTML decoding involves scanning the input string for entity references (e.g., <, &, ") or character references (e.g., A, 😁), and replacing them with their corresponding characters. The decoding process ensures that the resulting string contains the intended characters without any encoded entities.

HTML decoding is useful in various scenarios, such as parsing HTML content, handling user input, or displaying dynamic content on web pages. It allows you to accurately represent special characters and symbols in HTML documents, ensuring proper rendering and interpretation of the content by web browsers.