How to Parse Strings and Use HTML Tags in Your Next.js Application

---

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: How to parse string and make string with tags from json data

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---

The Problem Explained

Let's say you have a JSON file containing a title like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Your goal is to extract this string and render it on your webpage with the <b> tag applied, making the word "accent" bold. However, if you follow the traditional approach of embedding this string directly into your JSX component, you might encounter a problem: the HTML tags are displayed as plain text rather than rendered elements.

Here’s an example of what you might initially write:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

In this case, the output would be simply:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Instead of the intended bold formatting.

The Solution: Using dangerouslySetInnerHTML

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to implement this solution.

Step 1: Prepare Your Parse Function

First, update the parseTitle function to return a sanitized HTML string:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This function now converts the HTML tags in your string from their encoded form.

Step 2: Use dangerouslySetInnerHTML

Now, structure your component to use the dangerouslySetInnerHTML prop to display the parsed title correctly:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Rendering HTML Safely

By leveraging dangerouslySetInnerHTML, your final output in the browser will correctly render as:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Important Notes

Sanitization: Be cautious when using dangerouslySetInnerHTML. Ensuring that the HTML content is sanitized is crucial to prevent XSS (cross-site scripting) attacks. Always validate or sanitize the content before rendering it.

Encoded HTML vs. Plain Text: Make sure to understand the difference between encoded HTML (like < for <) and how it appears when rendered in JSX.

Conclusion

Now, you can go ahead and implement this solution in your projects to display formatted text effortlessly!