HTML Entities

HTML entities are special sequences that represent characters which are reserved in HTML or not available on a standard keyboard. For example, the less-than sign < must be written as < to prevent the browser from interpreting it as an HTML tag.

There are two forms: named entities like & that use human-readable names, and numeric entities like & that use Unicode code points. Numeric entities can represent any character, including emoji.

Encoding HTML entities is essential for preventing XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) attacks — if user input is rendered as HTML without encoding, an attacker could inject malicious scripts. Always encode user-supplied content before inserting it into HTML.

Your text stays in the browser — nothing is transmitted. Your text stays private.