How to Use the HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder
The HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder converts special characters to their HTML entity equivalents and vice versa. Whether you need to safely display user input in HTML, decode scraped web content, or prepare text for email templates, this tool handles named entities (&), decimal entities (&), and hexadecimal entities (&) with ease.
Step-by-Step
1. **Paste your text** — Enter raw text to encode or HTML-encoded text to decode into the input panel.
2. **Choose the operation** — Select Encode to convert special characters to entities, or Decode to convert entities back to readable text.
3. **Select entity format** — Choose between named entities (&), decimal numeric (&), or hexadecimal numeric (&) for encoding output.
4. **View the result** — The converted text appears instantly in the output panel with syntax highlighting.
5. **Copy the output** — Use the clipboard button to copy the encoded or decoded text.
Features
- **Named Entity Support** — Converts to and from all standard HTML named entities including &, <, >, ", , ©, and hundreds more.
- **Numeric Entity Support** — Handles both decimal (<) and hexadecimal (<) entity formats for complete Unicode coverage.
- **Bidirectional Conversion** — Encode special characters into entities or decode entities back to their original characters with a single click.
- **Selective Encoding** — Choose to encode only essential characters (<, >, &, ", ') or encode all non-ASCII characters for maximum compatibility.
- **Bulk Processing** — Handles large blocks of text instantly, making it suitable for processing entire HTML documents or template files.
- **Real-Time Preview** — See the conversion result update live as you type or modify the input.
Common Use Cases
- **XSS Prevention** — Encode user-submitted content before rendering it in HTML to prevent cross-site scripting attacks.
- **Email Templates** — Encode special characters in HTML email templates to ensure they render correctly across all email clients.
- **Web Scraping** — Decode HTML entities in scraped web content to get clean, readable text for processing or storage.
- **CMS Content** — Encode content for safe storage in databases and decode it for display in content management systems.
- **Internationalization** — Encode non-ASCII characters as numeric entities for HTML documents that need to work with any character encoding.
Why Use This Tool
HTML entities are essential for web security and compatibility, but remembering entity names and codes is impractical. This tool provides instant bidirectional conversion with support for all standard entity formats. It's especially valuable for preventing XSS vulnerabilities, fixing encoding issues in email templates, and cleaning up scraped web content. All processing happens in your browser — no data is sent to any server.
Zero-Knowledge Execution & Edge Architecture
Unlike traditional monolithic developer utilities, DevUtility Hub operates entirely on a Zero-Knowledge architectural framework. When utilizing the Linux HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder, all computational workload is completely shifted to your local execution environment via WebAssembly (Wasm) and your browser's native JavaScript engine (such as V8 or SpiderMonkey).
Why Local Workloads Matter
Transmitting proprietary JSON objects, sensitive source code, or unencrypted text strings to an unknown third-party server introduces critical security vulnerabilities. By executing the Linux HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder securely within the isolated sandbox of your Document Object Model (DOM), we structurally guarantee strict compliance with major data protection regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA. We do not ingest, log, or telemetry your text payloads. Your local RAM serves as the absolute boundary.
Network-Free Performance
Furthermore, by completely eliminating asynchronous HTTP POST payloads to a centralized cloud infrastructure, we guarantee effectively zero latency. The Linux HTML Entity Encoder/Decoder provides instant execution without arbitrary rate limits, artificial file size constraints, or server timeouts. Our global edge network serves the application wrapper, while your local machine handles the heavy lifting.
Senior DevTools Architect • 15+ Yeaers Exp.