Converting HTML Entities to Text involves decoding HTML entities like <, >, &, etc., back into their corresponding characters, such as <, >, and &. This process is useful when you want to retrieve the actual text content from HTML-encoded data, often used when displaying HTML-encoded strings or when working with data that has been converted into HTML entities for safe storage or transfer.
Why Convert HTML Entities to Text?
Display Readable Content: When you receive or display HTML-encoded text, you might want to decode it into the actual readable text for better presentation.
Data Parsing: When handling data received from an HTML-encoded source, you may want to decode the entities to properly process or analyze the raw text.
Prevent Double-Encoding: Sometimes HTML entities can be encoded multiple times; converting them back to text ensures there is no double-encoding issue.
Common HTML Entities and Their Text Equivalents:
< → <
> → >
& → &
" → "
' → '
→ (space)
© → ©
® → ®
Example of HTML Entities to Text Conversion
HTML Entities Example:
html
Hello, world! Let's convert <text> & "special" characters.
Converted to Text:
arduino
Hello, world! Let's convert <text> & "special" characters.
Manual Conversion:
To manually convert HTML entities back to text:
Replace < with <
Replace > with >
Replace & with &
Replace " with "
Replace ' with '
Replace with a space
Automated Conversion Using JavaScript:
You can easily convert HTML entities to text using JavaScript. Here's a simple example using the DOMParser to decode HTML entities:
javascript
function htmlEntitiesToText(str) {
var doc = new DOMParser().parseFromString(str, 'text/html');
return doc.body.textContent || doc.body.innerText;
}
Example usage:
javascript
var htmlEntities = "Hello, world! Let's convert <text> & "special" characters.";
var decodedText = htmlEntitiesToText(htmlEntities);
console.log(decodedText);
Output:
arduino
Hello, world! Let's convert <text> & "special" characters.
Using Online Tools:
There are several online tools available that can automatically convert HTML entities back to text. Some tools include:
HTML Entities to Text: Paste your HTML entity-encoded text and get the decoded result.
HTML Entity Decoder: Converts HTML entities back to plain text.
Considerations for Conversion:
Multiple Entities: Ensure that the tool or method you use decodes all instances of HTML entities in your text.
HTML Encoding: Not all characters need to be encoded in HTML. Only characters with special meaning in HTML, such as <, >, &, ", and ', are encoded as entities.
Performance: If you are dealing with large amounts of text or HTML-encoded content, using efficient methods like JavaScript or server-side decoding is preferable.