Prototype.js or other js function to decode html entities

Question

I am looking for a prototype.js or other js function to decode html encoded entities. I am using 1.6.1 of Prototype.js and unescapeHTML does not work on French encoded characters. I believe from what I read, that is only works on a few select entities.

Can someone point me in the right direction on how I would do something like this with javascript? I would normally be able to use the .text() with jQuery, but right now the main library used is Prototype.

Thanks.

"French encoded characters" are HTML encoded French characters, I believe? It seems like this is a question about decoding arbitrary HTML-encoded strings. — Wylie
– Wylie, Commented Jul 14, 2011 at 20:46
Yeah, trying to get the right lingo here. Basically encoded HTML needs to be unencoded. The reason is the javascript outputs the html rather than the final output that a browser displays. — fanfavorite
– fanfavorite, Commented Jul 14, 2011 at 20:51
unescapeHTML and escapeHTML definitely only converts <, > and &. My question is how are you outputting with javascript that doesn't already decode? — clockworkgeek
– clockworkgeek, Commented Jul 14, 2011 at 21:07
A string is loaded into a js variable server side and the client side shows var somevar = "Mettre à jour" for example. Then if you alert that or use that anywhere, it stays like that. In the browser, the output ends up being à — fanfavorite
– fanfavorite, Commented Jul 14, 2011 at 21:12

Dan Atkinson · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-07 15:03:26Z

3

How about this:

function decode(str) {
    var div = document.createElement('div');
    div.innerHTML = str;
    return div.innerHTML;
}

Doesn't return & properly but works fine for french ones. Updated fiddle:http://jsfiddle.net/mrchief/MRqnQ/3/

edited Mar 7, 2016 at 15:03

Dan Atkinson

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answered Jul 14, 2011 at 20:43

Mrchief

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2 Comments

nwellcome Over a year ago

Yep, prototypes unescapeHTML doesn't work on those french html characters: jsfiddle.net/nwellcome/MRqnQ

fanfavorite Over a year ago

Thanks. The problem is I can't change the output at this time as the strings are everywhere, I just can change the value of the string itself, so outputting the innerHTML isn't an option I don't think.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:59:44Z

0

The built-in decodeURI function may be what you're looking for. It ignores "special" characters, but will turn an arbitrary URI-encoded string into what it represents.

Example:

encodeURI("Déjà vu") = "D%C3%A9j%C3%A0%20vu"

decodeURI("D%C3%A9j%C3%A0%20vu") = "Déjà vu"

An alternative may be to use a regular expression.

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:59

CommunityBot

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answered Jul 14, 2011 at 20:57

Wylie

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2 Comments

fanfavorite Over a year ago

Sorry the first option isn't what I am looking for, but the second looks like my only solution at this point.

Wylie Over a year ago

Yes, the first option was just to show how the two functions go together. decodeURI is what I was suggesting.

ChristopheCVB · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-14 21:09:20Z

0

Try using that :

http://phpjs.org/functions/htmlentities:425

answered Jul 14, 2011 at 21:09

ChristopheCVB

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