HTML Escape/Unescape
Escape or unescape HTML special characters like <, >, &, and quotes
What is HTML Escape/Unescape?
HTML Escape/Unescape is a free online tool that converts HTML special characters to their entity equivalents and vice versa. It escapes characters like <, >, &, double quotes, and single quotes to prevent browsers from interpreting them as HTML markup. This is critical for preventing Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks and for correctly displaying code snippets in web pages. The tool also unescapes HTML entities back to their original characters, which is useful when reading escaped content or preparing text for non-HTML contexts. All processing happens in your browser with complete privacy.
How to Use
- Enter HTML code in the input area.
- Click 'Escape' to convert special characters to HTML entities.
- Click 'Unescape' to restore entities back to original characters.
Tips & Best Practices
- Always escape user input before displaying it in HTML to prevent XSS attacks.
- Use this tool to prepare code snippets for embedding in blog posts or documentation.
- Unescape HTML entities when moving content from HTML to plain text formats.
- Remember that & must always be escaped in HTML, even inside attribute values.
- Check for double-escaped entities (like &amp;) which indicate content was escaped twice.
Use Cases
Security
Escape user-generated content before rendering in HTML to prevent XSS vulnerabilities.
Code Display
Prepare source code with HTML tags for display on web pages without being interpreted.
Content Migration
Unescape HTML entities when moving content between HTML and plain text systems.
Email Templates
Escape special characters in email HTML templates to ensure correct rendering.
FAQ
Why do I need to escape HTML?
Escaping HTML prevents browsers from interpreting characters like < and > as HTML tags, which is essential for preventing XSS attacks and displaying code correctly.
Which characters are escaped?
The main characters escaped are: & to &amp;, < to &lt;, > to &gt;, double quote to &quot;, and single quote to &#39;.
What is HTML escaping?
HTML escaping converts characters with special meaning in HTML (like <, >, &, ") into entities (like < >) so browsers do not interpret them as tags.
Is my data sent to any server?
No, all escaping and unescaping is performed locally in your browser.
What problems occur if I skip HTML escaping?
Unescaped user input can lead to XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) vulnerabilities and may break the page layout.
What types of HTML entities exist?
There are named entities (&, <) and numeric entities (&, <). This tool uses the most common named entities.
Is my data collected?
No, all processing happens in your browser. No text is sent to any server.
What is XSS?
XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) is a security vulnerability where malicious scripts are injected into web pages through unescaped user input.
Why do I need to escape the & character?
The & character starts HTML entity references. An unescaped & followed by text could be misinterpreted as an entity.
What is the difference between HTML escaping and URL encoding?
HTML escaping converts characters to HTML entities for safe display in HTML. URL encoding converts characters to percent-encoded form for use in URLs.
Does it handle numeric HTML entities?
Yes, the unescape function handles both named entities like & and numeric entities like & and &.
Should I escape content in a JavaScript string?
For JavaScript strings, you need JavaScript escaping (backslash), not HTML escaping. HTML escape only when inserting into HTML markup.