htmlentities() vs. htmlspecialchars()

Question

What are the differences between htmlspecialchars() and htmlentities(). When should I use one or the other?

Answer 1

htmlentities — Convert all applicable characters to HTML entities.

htmlspecialchars — Convert special characters to HTML entities.

The translations performed translation characters on the below:

• '&' (ampersand) becomes '&'
• '"' (double quote) becomes '"' when ENT_NOQUOTES is not set.
• "'" (single quote) becomes ''' (or ') only when ENT_QUOTES is set.
• '<' (less than) becomes '<'
• '>' (greater than) becomes '>'

You can check the following code for more information about what's htmlentities and htmlspecialchars:

https://gist.github.com/joko-wandiro/f5c935708d9c37d8940b