Why does using .html() break this Replace expression?

Question

While working on a project I ran across a bug and found this unexpected behaviour:

If I call .replace() on a string and set the result to a div using .text() the replace function works as I expect.

However, if I call .replace() on a string and set the result to a div using .html(), the targeted text is not replaced in the string.

Here's an example of what I mean:

	$('#result1').text('¤cyId'.replace('¤cyId','&currencyId')); // works
	$('#result2').html('¤cyId'.replace('¤cyId','&currencyId')); // doesnt work 

    var result = '¤cyId'.replace('¤cyId','&currencyId')
	$('#result3').text(result); // works
	$('#result4').html(result); // doesnt work 

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="result1"></div><br>
<div id="result2"></div><br>
<div id="result3"></div><br>
<div id="result4"></div>

I see that using .text() instead of .html() resolves the issue, but...

Why does this happen?

Answer 1

The replaces works just fine.

It only looks like the wrong string ends up in the elements when you use the html method because &curren is decoded into ¤ by the browser, so &currencyId is shown as ¤cyId.

When you use the text method the text is not decoded as HTML code, so .text("&currencyId") has the same effect as.html("&currencyId").

The HTML entity for the ¤ character is ¤, but the browser also accepts the form &curren without the semicolon.

Answer 2

Because &curren is a html entity, and .html resolves html entities whilst .text leaves them verbatim.

Answer 3

try

$('#result2').html('¤cyId'.replace('¤cyId','&currencyId'));

& in html should be &