What kinds of entities can this decode?

It decodes named entities such as & , < , and © , decimal numeric references like — , and hexadecimal references like ☺ . It covers the common named set plus any code point expressed numerically.

What is the difference between decimal and hex entities?

Both reference a Unicode code point by number. A uses decimal (65) and A uses hexadecimal (0x41); both produce the capital letter A. Hex references always include the x after the hash sign.

Why is an unknown entity left unchanged?

If a name is not in the recognised set, or a numeric reference is out of the valid Unicode range, the tool leaves the original text intact rather than guessing. This avoids corrupting content that only looks like an entity.

When should I encode text into entities?

Encode when you need to display characters literally inside HTML, especially the ampersand, less-than, greater-than, and quote characters. Escaping them prevents the browser from interpreting your text as markup and helps block injection bugs.

Does decoding HTML entities run on a server?

No. All decoding and encoding happens locally in your browser using a built-in entity table and the standard string functions. Your content is never uploaded.

HTML Entity Decoder — Gera Tools

Q: What is the difference between decimal and hex entities?

Both reference a Unicode code point by number. A uses decimal (65) and A uses hexadecimal (0x41); both produce the capital letter A. Hex references always include the x after the hash sign.

Q: Why is an unknown entity left unchanged?

If a name is not in the recognised set, or a numeric reference is out of the valid Unicode range, the tool leaves the original text intact rather than guessing. This avoids corrupting content that only looks like an entity.

Q: When should I encode text into entities?

Encode when you need to display characters literally inside HTML, especially the ampersand, less-than, greater-than, and quote characters. Escaping them prevents the browser from interpreting your text as markup and helps block injection bugs.

Q: Does decoding HTML entities run on a server?

No. All decoding and encoding happens locally in your browser using a built-in entity table and the standard string functions. Your content is never uploaded.

HTML entities are escape sequences that let you include reserved characters — like the ampersand or angle brackets — or any Unicode character inside HTML without the browser misinterpreting it. This tool decodes named, decimal, and hexadecimal entities back to plain text, and can also encode text into safe entities.

How it works

Every entity starts with an ampersand and ends with a semicolon. There are three forms:

&amp;      named entity        -> &
&#65;      decimal reference   -> A
&#x41;     hexadecimal reference -> A

To decode, the tool scans for these patterns. A named entity is looked up in a table of common names (such as amp, lt, copy, mdash, pound) to find its Unicode code point. A numeric reference is parsed as decimal, or as hexadecimal when it begins with #x, then converted with String.fromCodePoint. Anything that is not a recognised name or a valid code point is left exactly as written, so content is never silently corrupted.

Encoding direction

Encoding is the reverse: the HTML-significant characters &, <, >, ", and ' are replaced with their safe entity equivalents (&, <, >, ", '). An optional setting also converts every non-ASCII character to a numeric reference, which is useful when a system can only transmit plain ASCII.

Example

The fragment Fish & Chips — £5 ☺ decodes to Fish & Chips — £5 ☺. Here & is the named ampersand, — is the decimal code for an em dash, £ is the named pound sign, and ☺ is the hex code for a smiling face. All processing happens in your browser.