How to display HTML tags as plain text [duplicate]

Question

I have an input form on my website where HTML is allowed and I'm trying to add instructions about the use of HTML tags. I'd like the text to

<strong>Look just like this line - so then know how to type it</strong>

But so far all I get is:

Look just like this line - so then know how to type it

How can I show the tags so people know what to type?

Answer 1

Replace < with < and > with >.

Answer 2

In PHP use the function htmlspecialchars() to escape < and >.

htmlspecialchars('<strong>something</strong>')

Answer 3

As many others have said, htmlentities() will do the trick... but it will look like shit.

Wrap it up with a <pre> tag and you'll preserve your indentation.

echo '<pre>';
echo htmlspecialchars($YOUR_HTML);
echo '</pre>';

Answer 4

You should use htmlspecialchars. It replaces characters as below:

• & (ampersand) becomes &
• " (double quote) becomes " when ENT_NOQUOTES is not set.
• ' (single quote) becomes ' only when ENT_QUOTES is set.
• < (less than) becomes <
• > (greater than) becomes >

Answer 5

you may use htmlspecialchars()

<?php
$new = htmlspecialchars("<a href='test'>Test</a>", ENT_QUOTES);
echo $new; // &lt;a href=&#039;test&#039;&gt;Test&lt;/a&gt;
?>

Answer 6

You just need to encode the <>s:

<strong>Look just like this line - so then know how to type it</strong>

Answer 7

To display HTML tags within a browser, surround the output with < xmp> and < / xmp> tags

Answer 8

You can use htmlentities when echoing to the browser, this will show the tag rather than have html interpret it.

See here http://uk3.php.net/manual/en/function.htmlentities.php

Example:

 echo htmlentities("<strong>Look just like this line - so then know how to type it</strong>"); 

Output:

<strong>Look just like this line - so then know how to type it</strong>

Answer 9

The native JavaScript approach -

('<strong>Look just ...</strong>').replace(/</g, '&lt;').replace(/>/g, '&gt;');

Enjoy!

Answer 10

There is another way...

header('Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8');

This makes the whole page served as plain text... better is htmlspecialchars...

Hope this helps...

Answer 11

Use htmlentities() to convert characters that would otherwise be displayed as HTML.