How to remove formatting from HTML text and display it as Plain text on a page

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The answer is by using HTMLEncoding which encodes a string and sends the resultant output to a TextWriter output stream. Here’s an example:

C#

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    String str = "Some sample <b>string</b> to <i>test</i>";
    Response.Write("Before Encoding : " + str);
    Response.Write("<br/>");
    StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
    Server.HtmlEncode(str, sw);
    String htmlEncStr = sw.ToString();
    Response.Write("After Encoding : " + htmlEncStr);
}

VB.NET

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    Dim str As String = "Some sample <b>string</b> to <i>test</i>"
    Response.Write("Before Encoding : " & str)
    Response.Write("<br/>")
    Dim sw As New StringWriter()
    Server.HtmlEncode(str, sw)
    Dim htmlEncStr As String = sw.ToString()
    Response.Write("After Encoding : " & htmlEncStr)
End Sub

OUTPUT

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About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, Developer Technologies MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) is the founder and contributor for DevCurry, DotNetCurry and SQLServerCurry. He is the Chief Editor of a Developer Magazine called DNC Magazine. He has also authored two Books - 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls. and The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Follow him on twitter @suprotimagarwal.