Is there an easy way to convert text into HTML in JavaScript? [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Escaping HTML strings with jQuery
JavaScript/jQuery HTML Encoding

For example, if I wanted to show the user the string x < 3 in HTML I would need to replace the < character with <. Is there a prebuilt function to do this in JavaScript or perhaps jQuery that converts any text string into the corresponding HTML?

Answer 1

If you want to use jQuery, you can use the text(string) method.

$(".selector").text("x < 5");

http://api.jquery.com/text/

Answer 2

Or, Take it simple and do this

var str1 = "x < 3";
str1.replace(/</g, '&lt;');

Here is a function from another question

function htmlEscape(str) {
    return String(str)
            .replace(/&/g, '&')
            .replace(/"/g, '"')
            .replace(/'/g, ''')
            .replace(/</g, '&lt;')
            .replace(/>/g, '&gt;');
}

Or, Excellent cheat using jQuery Source

function htmlEncode(value){
  return $('<div/>').text(value).html();
}

function htmlDecode(value){
  return $('<div/>').html(value).text();
}