---
name: "cgiEscape"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "cgilib"
version: "0.6-1.1+b1"
release: "Debian 11 (Bullseye)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cgiEscape"
---

# cgiEscape(3)

HTML escape certain characters in a string

## NAME

cgiEscape - HTML escape certain characters in a string

## SYNOPSYS

```
#include <cgi.h>

char *cgiEscape (char *string);
```

## DESCRIPTION

This function returns a pointer to a sanitised string. It converts **\<**, **&** and **\>** into HTML entities so that the result can be displayed without any danger of cross-site scripting in a browser. The result may be passed to [**free**(3)](/free/3.md) after use. This routine is meant to be called before any user provided strings are returned to the browser.

## RETURN VALUE

**cgiEscape**() returns a pointer to the sanitised string or NULL in case of error.

## AUTHOR

This CGi library is written by Martin Schulze \<joey@infodrom.org\>.  If you have additions or improvements please get in touch with him.

## SEE ALSO

[**free**(3)](/free/3.md).