HTML Decoder is the reverse process of HTML encoding. It involves converting HTML entities (like <, >, &, etc.) back into their corresponding characters (like <, >, &, etc.). This is helpful when you need to display the original text in its readable form after it has been encoded for use in an HTML context.
Why HTML Decoding?
HTML decoding is necessary when:
Displaying Encoded Data: After data has been encoded to prevent HTML injection or render special characters, you might want to convert it back to its original form for display purposes.
Parsing HTML Content: When you need to process or manipulate encoded HTML content, decoding it helps convert the entities back to their standard characters.
HTML Decoding Process:
The decoding process involves:
Identifying HTML entities: The HTML entity codes like <, >, &, etc., are replaced with their corresponding characters (<, >, &, etc.).
Replacing other encoded symbols: Entities such as © and ™ are also decoded to their respective symbols.
Common HTML Entities and Their Decoded Characters:
HTML Entity Decoded Character
& &
< <
> >
" "
' '
© ©
® ®
€ €
™ ™
  Space
HTML Decoding Example:
If you have an encoded string:
php-template
Hello <World> & "Everyone" 'Here'
The decoded version would be:
nginx
Hello <World> & "Everyone" 'Here'
How to Decode HTML:
Manually: You can replace each HTML entity with its corresponding character.
Programmatically: Most programming languages have functions to decode HTML entities back to their characters:
JavaScript: Use textarea or DOMParser to decode.
Python: Use html.parser or html.unescape().
PHP: Use html_entity_decode().
Java: Use org.apache.commons.lang3.StringEscapeUtils.unescapeHtml4().