escape less / greater than javascript

Question

I\'m having a problem trying to escape some code... Basically, I want to escape \"<\" and \">\" but I want them to APPEAR in my #output div as \"<\" and \">\". Current

Answer 1

A little different replace, but works for me (even with .html()).

Demo

var str = $('#textarea').val();
$('#result').html(str.replace(/<|>/ig,function(m){
    return '&'+(m=='>'?'g':'l')+'t;';
}));

<textarea id="textarea">
    Hello, <b>World</b>!
</textarea>
<div id="result"></div>

(This is just to verify it can be done, .text() is the better approach)

Answer 2

Try this:

var textval = $("#textarea").val();
$("#output").text(textval);      

jQuery offers two methods - $.text() and $.html() where the method names speak for themselves :)