raw vs. html_safe vs. h to unescape html

Question

Suppose I have the following string

@x = \"Turn me into a link\"

In my view, I want a link to be displayed.

Answer 1

1. html_safe :

   Marks a string as trusted safe. It will be inserted into HTML with no additional escaping performed.

   "Hello".html_safe
   #=> "Hello"
   
   nil.html_safe
   #=> NoMethodError: undefined method `html_safe' for nil:NilClass
   

2. raw :

   raw is just a wrapper around html_safe. Use raw if there are chances that the string will be nil.

   raw("Hello")
   #=> "Hello"
   
   raw(nil)
   #=> ""
   

3. h alias for html_escape :

   A utility method for escaping HTML tag characters. Use this method to escape any unsafe content.

   In Rails 3 and above it is used by default so you don't need to use this method explicitly