PHP htmlspecialchars_decode() Function

Definition

The htmlspecialchars_decode() function converts some predefined HTML entities to characters.

HTML entities that will be decoded are:

• & becomes & (ampersand)
• " becomes " (double quote)
• ' becomes ' (single quote)
• &lt; becomes < (less than)
• &gt; becomes > (greater than)

The htmlspecialchars_decode() function is the opposite of htmlspecialchars().

Syntax

PHP htmlspecialchars_decode() Function has the following syntax.

Parameter

The available quote styles are:

• ENT_COMPAT - Default. Decodes only double quotes
• ENT_QUOTES - Decodes double and single quotes
• ENT_NOQUOTES - Does not decode any quotes
• ENT_HTML401 - Default. Handle code as HTML 4.01
• ENT_HTML5 - Handle code as HTML 5
• ENT_XML1 - Handle code as XML 1
• ENT_XHTML - Handle code as XHTML

Return

PHP htmlspecialchars_decode() Function returns the converted string.

Example 1

Convert the predefined HTML entities "<" (less than) and ">" (greater than) to characters:

<?php
$str = "java2s.com &lt;b&gt;bold&lt;/b&gt; text.";
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str);
?>

The code above generates the following result.

Example 2

Convert some predefined HTML entities to characters:

<?php/*  w ww  .j a  v  a  2  s  . co  m*/
$str = "Java &amp; &#039;.com&#039;";
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_COMPAT); // Will only convert double quotes
echo "\n";
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_QUOTES); // Converts double and single quotes
echo "\n";
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_NOQUOTES); // Does not convert any quotes
?>

The code above generates the following result.