What Is Encoded HTML And Decoded HTML?

HTML, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language, is the standard language used to create and design web pages. It consists of various elements and tags that define the structure and content of a webpage. When working with HTML, you may come across the terms "encoded HTML" and "decoded HTML." These terms refer to the process of encoding and decoding special characters in HTML.

Encoded HTML:

Encoded HTML refers to HTML code that has been modified to represent special characters in a way that can be safely transmitted and displayed on a web page. Special characters, such as <, >, ", ', and &, have special meanings in HTML and need to be encoded to prevent them from being interpreted as part of the HTML code itself.

For example, the less-than sign (<) is encoded as < and the greater-than sign (>) is encoded as >. Similarly, the ampersand (&) is encoded as &. Encoding these characters ensures that they are displayed correctly on the webpage and do not interfere with the HTML structure.

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Decoded HTML:

Decoded HTML, on the other hand, refers to HTML code where these special characters have been reverted to their original form. This is often done when working with HTML data that has been encoded for transmission or storage, and needs to be displayed as readable text on a webpage.

For example, if you have the encoded string <div>, decoding it would result in the original HTML code <div>, which can then be rendered as a <div> element on the webpage.

Encoding and Decoding Special Characters:

In HTML, special characters are encoded using what are known as "character entities." These are sequences of characters that represent a specific character or symbol. For example, the character entity < represents the less-than sign (<).

To decode encoded HTML, you can use JavaScript's decodeURIComponent() function or libraries like he.js. Similarly, to encode special characters, you can use the encodeURIComponent() function in JavaScript or equivalent functions in other programming languages.

Conclusion:

Encoded HTML refers to HTML code where special characters have been replaced with their corresponding character entities, while decoded HTML refers to HTML code where these entities have been reverted back to their original form. Understanding the difference between encoded and decoded HTML is essential when working with HTML data, especially when handling special characters.