Decoding all HTML Entities

Question

I'm looking for some function that will decode a good amount of HTML entities.

Reason is I am working on some code to take HTML content and turning it into plain text, the issue that I have is a lot of entities do not get converted using HttpUtility.HtmlDecode.

Some examples of entities I'm concerned about are  , &, ©.

This is for .net 3.5.

I switched to .Net 3.5 and used `Console.WriteLine(HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(" , &, ©"));` and it worked fine for me. I can't figure out why you'd be having trouble. Do you have a weird string encoding or something? — John Gibb, Dec 01 '11 at 22:30

score 36 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

36

Then maybe you will need the HttpUtility.HtmlDecode?. It should work, you just need to add a reference to System.Web. At least this was the way in .Net Framework < 4.

For example the following code:

MessageBox.Show(HttpUtility.HtmlDecode("&amp;&copy;"));

Worked and the output was as expected (ampersand and copyright symbol). Are you sure the problem is within HtmlDecode and not something else?

UPDATE: Another class capable of doing the job, WebUtility (again HtmlDecode method) came in the newer versions of .Net. However, there seem to be some problems with it. See the HttpUtility vs. WebUtility question.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

1
1

answered Dec 01 '11 at 22:08

Pavel Donchev

1,809
1
17
29

You are correct, it was how I was using the result, if I put it into an asp:label it would convert the copywrite character into ©. – Matthew Dec 02 '11 at 14:49
I see. That is pretty useful to know :). – Pavel Donchev Dec 02 '11 at 14:58
If it's using js ```encodeURI()``` use ```HttpUtility.UrlDecode()``` – chris c Nov 12 '19 at 01:18

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 01 '11 at 22:02

23

Use WebUtility.HtmlDecode included in .Net 4

For example, if I run in a console app:

  Console.WriteLine(WebUtility.HtmlDecode("&nbsp;, &amp;, &copy;"));

I get , &, c

answered Dec 01 '11 at 22:02

John Gibb

10,603
2
37
48

1

I probably should have said this is for .net 3.5. I +1'ed you though. Thank you anyway. – Matthew Dec 01 '11 at 22:06
What is the difference between WebUtility and HttpUtility's `HtmlDecode` method? – crush May 28 '14 at 21:41
There's an answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17352981/webutility-htmldecode-vs-httputilty-htmldecode In short - WebUtility came with WinRT, it's newer while the HttpUtility is the old one (used all over the place so I expect it to stay). Also I think WebUtility is in System.dll (System.Net), which makes it a bit more accessible for WinApps (you don't have to depend on System.Web) if I remember correctly. – Pavel Donchev May 25 '15 at 05:15

Decoding all HTML Entities

2 Answers2

Linked