Java examples to escape the characters in a String using HTML entities. This converts the Java String to equivalent HTML content, browsers are capable to print.
1) StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml4() [Apache Commons Text]
- This method takes the raw string as parameter and then escapes the characters using HTML entities.
- It supports all known HTML 4.0 entities.
Apostropheescape character (') is not a legal entity and so is not supported.
To use StringEscapeUtils, import commons-text dependency.
<dependency> <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId> <artifactId>commons-text</artifactId> <version>1.4</version> </dependency>
Now use StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml4() method.
import org.apache.commons.text.StringEscapeUtils;
public class HTMLEscapeExample
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String unEscapedString = "<java>public static void main(String[] args) { ... }</java>";
String escapedHTML = StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml4(unEscapedString);
System.out.println(escapedHTML); //Browser can now parse this and print
}
}
//Output:
<java>public static void main(String[] args) { ... }</java>
2) Custom StringUtils.encodeHtml() method
If you have certain requirement where you need to modify the logic provided by library methods, the you can write your own method. Mostly this approach should be avoided, but may be handy when requirement arise.
package com.howtodoinjava.demo;
public class HTMLEscapeExample
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String unEscapedString = "<java>public static void main(String[] args) { ... }</java>";
String escapedHTML = StringUtils.encodeHtml(unEscapedString);
System.out.println(escapedHTML); //Browser can now parse this and print
}
}
//Output:
<java>public static void main(String[] args) { ... }</java>
StringUtils.java class
package com.howtodoinjava.demo;
import java.util.HashMap;
public class StringUtils
{
private static final HashMap<Character, String> htmlEncodeChars = new HashMap<>();
static
{
// Special characters for HTML
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0026', "&");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u003C', "<");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u003E', ">");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0022', """);
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0152', "Œ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0153', "œ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0160', "Š");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0161', "š");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0178', "Ÿ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u02C6', "ˆ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u02DC', "˜");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2002', " ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2003', " ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2009', " ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u200C', "‌");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u200D', "‍");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u200E', "‎");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u200F', "‏");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2013', "–");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2014', "—");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2018', "‘");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2019', "’");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u201A', "‚");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u201C', "“");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u201D', "”");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u201E', "„");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2020', "†");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2021', "‡");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2030', "‰");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2039', "‹");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u203A', "›");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u20AC', "€");
// Character entity references for ISO 8859-1 characters
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A0', " ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A1', "¡");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A2', "¢");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A3', "£");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A4', "¤");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A5', "¥");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A6', "¦");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A7', "§");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A8', "¨");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00A9', "©");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00AA', "ª");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00AB', "«");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00AC', "¬");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00AD', "­");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00AE', "®");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00AF', "¯");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B0', "°");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B1', "±");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B2', "²");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B3', "³");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B4', "´");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B5', "µ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B6', "¶");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B7', "·");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B8', "¸");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00B9', "¹");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00BA', "º");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00BB', "»");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00BC', "¼");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00BD', "½");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00BE', "¾");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00BF', "¿");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C0', "À");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C1', "Á");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C2', "Â");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C3', "Ã");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C4', "Ä");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C5', "Å");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C6', "Æ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C7', "Ç");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C8', "È");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00C9', "É");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00CA', "Ê");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00CB', "Ë");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00CC', "Ì");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00CD', "Í");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00CE', "Î");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00CF', "Ï");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D0', "Ð");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D1', "Ñ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D2', "Ò");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D3', "Ó");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D4', "Ô");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D5', "Õ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D6', "Ö");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D7', "×");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D8', "Ø");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00D9', "Ù");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00DA', "Ú");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00DB', "Û");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00DC', "Ü");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00DD', "Ý");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00DE', "Þ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00DF', "ß");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E0', "à");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E1', "á");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E2', "â");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E3', "ã");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E4', "ä");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E5', "å");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E6', "æ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E7', "ç");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E8', "è");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00E9', "é");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00EA', "ê");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00EB', "ë");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00EC', "ì");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00ED', "í");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00EE', "î");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00EF', "ï");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F0', "ð");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F1', "ñ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F2', "ò");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F3', "ó");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F4', "ô");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F5', "õ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F6', "ö");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F7', "÷");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F8', "ø");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00F9', "ù");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00FA', "ú");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00FB', "û");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00FC', "ü");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00FD', "ý");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00FE', "þ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u00FF', "ÿ");
// Mathematical, Greek and Symbolic characters for HTML
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0192', "ƒ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0391', "Α");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0392', "Β");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0393', "Γ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0394', "Δ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0395', "Ε");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0396', "Ζ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0397', "Η");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0398', "Θ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u0399', "Ι");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u039A', "Κ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u039B', "Λ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u039C', "Μ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u039D', "Ν");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u039E', "Ξ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u039F', "Ο");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A0', "Π");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A1', "Ρ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A3', "Σ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A4', "Τ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A5', "Υ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A6', "Φ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A7', "Χ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A8', "Ψ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03A9', "Ω");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B1', "α");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B2', "β");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B3', "γ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B4', "δ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B5', "ε");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B6', "ζ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B7', "η");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B8', "θ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03B9', "ι");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03BA', "κ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03BB', "λ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03BC', "μ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03BD', "ν");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03BE', "ξ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03BF', "ο");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C0', "π");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C1', "ρ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C2', "ς");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C3', "σ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C4', "τ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C5', "υ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C6', "φ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C7', "χ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C8', "ψ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03C9', "ω");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03D1', "ϑ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03D2', "ϒ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u03D6', "ϖ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2022', "•");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2026', "…");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2032', "′");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2033', "″");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u203E', "‾");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2044', "⁄");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2118', "℘");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2111', "ℑ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u211C', "ℜ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2122', "™");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2135', "ℵ");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2190', "←");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2191', "↑");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2192', "→");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2193', "↓");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2194', "↔");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u21B5', "↵");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u21D0', "⇐");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u21D1', "⇑");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u21D2', "⇒");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u21D3', "⇓");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u21D4', "⇔");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2200', "∀");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2202', "∂");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2203', "∃");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2205', "∅");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2207', "∇");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2208', "∈");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2209', "∉");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u220B', "∋");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u220F', "∏");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2211', "∑");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2212', "−");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2217', "∗");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u221A', "√");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u221D', "∝");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u221E', "∞");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2220', "∠");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2227', "∧");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2228', "∨");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2229', "∩");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u222A', "∪");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u222B', "∫");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2234', "∴");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u223C', "∼");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2245', "≅");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2248', "≈");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2260', "≠");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2261', "≡");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2264', "≤");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2265', "≥");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2282', "⊂");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2283', "⊃");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2284', "⊄");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2286', "⊆");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2287', "⊇");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2295', "⊕");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2297', "⊗");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u22A5', "⊥");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u22C5', "⋅");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2308', "⌈");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2309', "⌉");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u230A', "⌊");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u230B', "⌋");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2329', "⟨");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u232A', "⟩");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u25CA', "◊");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2660', "♠");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2663', "♣");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2665', "♥");
htmlEncodeChars.put('\u2666', "♦");
}
private StringUtils()
{
}
public static String encodeHtml(String source)
{
return encode(source, htmlEncodeChars);
}
private static String encode(String source, HashMap<Character, String> encodingTable)
{
if (null == source)
{
return null;
}
if (null == encodingTable)
{
return source;
}
StringBuffer encoded_string = null;
char[] string_to_encode_array = source.toCharArray();
int last_match = -1;
int difference = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < string_to_encode_array.length; i++)
{
char char_to_encode = string_to_encode_array[i];
if (encodingTable.containsKey(char_to_encode))
{
if (null == encoded_string)
{
encoded_string = new StringBuffer(source.length());
}
difference = i - (last_match + 1);
if (difference > 0)
{
encoded_string.append(string_to_encode_array, last_match + 1, difference);
}
encoded_string.append(encodingTable.get(char_to_encode));
last_match = i;
}
}
if (null == encoded_string)
{
return source;
}
else
{
difference = string_to_encode_array.length - (last_match + 1);
if (difference > 0)
{
encoded_string.append(string_to_encode_array, last_match + 1, difference);
}
return encoded_string.toString();
}
}
}
Happy Learning !!
References:
HTML 4.01 Character References
StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml4()