Setting an element value using HTML entities

Question

I'm having an issue trying to set an input field's value when using HTML entities in that they are coming out literally as " rather than ".

Here is the code I am using:

document.getElementById('inputSurname').setAttribute('value', 'test&quot;&quot;&quot;');

in which the output is test""" though I want the output to be test""".

It doesn't look like a double-encoding issue since in the source code I am seeing it the same way I have set it here.

I know I could decode the value from its HTML entity format though this is something I want to avoid if possible for security.

Any help would be much appreciated :)

You can't have HTML in a form field, only text. It's the same reason why you can't set the value of an input to be bold via the value, only CSS — j08691
– j08691, Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 13:57

David H. · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-11 14:10:45Z

2

Try this:

document.getElementById('inputSurname').value = 'test"""';

Or if you want to keep &quot:

function myFunction() {
    document.getElementById('myText').value = replaceQuot('test&quot&quot&quot');
}
function replaceQuot(string){
    return string.replace('&quot', '""');
}

edited Jul 11, 2016 at 14:10

answered Jul 11, 2016 at 13:57

David H.

5072 silver badges10 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

harryjamesuk Over a year ago

The problem is that I am storing the value as ", and because it's user input I don't really want to decode the HTML entities.

harryjamesuk Over a year ago

I've made a few tweaks since your answer and managed to get things working now. I've took the string I was using and replaced &quot with \" to avoid any issues from user input and this now looks normal in the input field - so I'll go ahead and mark your answer as the best solution for leading me to this :)

nashcheez · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-11 14:04:18Z

1

Or you can use escape characters.

document.getElementById("inputSurname").setAttribute("value", "test\"\"\"\"");

answered Jul 11, 2016 at 14:04

nashcheez

5,1931 gold badge30 silver badges54 bronze badges

Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:58:51Z

0

Well you could just write the new value as 'test"""'.

For other characters however, I'm going to refer you to this answer: HTML Entity Decode

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:58

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Jul 11, 2016 at 14:01

LeDoc

9352 gold badges13 silver badges25 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Setting an element value using HTML entities

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related