htmlspecialchars_decode

(PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7)

Convert special HTML entities back to characters

string htmlspecialchars_decode ( string $string [, int $flags = ENT_COMPAT | ENT_HTML401 ] )

This function is the opposite of htmlspecialchars(). It converts special HTML entities back to characters.

The converted entities are: &, " (when ENT_NOQUOTES is not set), ' (when ENT_QUOTES is set), < and >.

Parameters:

string

The string to decode.

flags

A bitmask of one or more of the following flags, which specify how to handle quotes and which document type to use. The default is ENT_COMPAT | ENT_HTML401.

**Available `flags` constants**
Constant Name	Description
`ENT_COMPAT`	Will convert double-quotes and leave single-quotes alone.
`ENT_QUOTES`	Will convert both double and single quotes.
`ENT_NOQUOTES`	Will leave both double and single quotes unconverted.
`ENT_HTML401`	Handle code as HTML 4.01.
`ENT_XML1`	Handle code as XML 1.
`ENT_XHTML`	Handle code as XHTML.
`ENT_HTML5`	Handle code as HTML 5.

Returns:

Returns the decoded string.

Changelog:

5.4.0

The constants ENT_HTML401, ENT_XML1, ENT_XHTML and ENT_HTML5 were added.

Examples:

A htmlspecialchars_decode() example

<?php
$str = "<p>this -&gt; &quot;</p>\n";

echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str);

// note that here the quotes aren't converted
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_NOQUOTES);
?>

The above example will output:

<p>this -> "</p>
<p>this -> &quot;</p>