Version 5.7.x stops decoding HTML entities by default

[nunomarks]

Description

It seems like 5.7.0 introduced a change to how it decodes HTML entities. I suspect this is the bump from @nodable/entities@1.1.0 to @nodable/entities@2.1.0. If an XML value includes a numeric HTML entity such as ' (apostrophe), it doesn't get decoded.

Expected behaviour

' should get decoded to '.

Observed behaviour

' doesn't get decoded.

Status

For now we're stuck with 5.6.0, but this is breaking in the sense that the parsing doesn't produce the same string values.

Environment

• Lib Version: 5.7.0 / 5.7.1 / 5.7.2
• Node Version: 24.15.0

Should you need more information, please let me know.

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[amitguptagwl]

can you please let me know options you're setting? I hope you're not setting it externally.

[nunomarks]

This is how I'm settings the parser instance:

const xmlParser = new XMLParser({ ignoreAttributes: false, attributeNamePrefix: '@' });

[nunomarks]

And this is sample xml you can test with:

<Tag>
	<Data Value="And it&#39;s a sample" />
</Tag>

[TheDeathConqueror]

I can't see options for entity parsing. Neither htmlentity flag nor entitydecoder option. Cheers *Amit Kumar Gupta* SoloThought.com

…

On Sun, 3 May, 2026, 16:00 Nuno, ***@***.***> wrote: *nunomarks* left a comment (NaturalIntelligence/fast-xml-parser#829) <#829 (comment)> And this is sample xml you can test with: <Tag> <Data Value="And it&#39;s a sample" /> </Tag> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#829 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AIVYC2VTL5PZBNJO2GF7Z4L4Y4NTPAVCNFSM6AAAAACYOGU7N6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHM2DGNRVHE2TGNJUGM> . Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub>. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[nunomarks]

This is how it used to work on 5.6.0, so how we currently have on our codebase. This was broken on the 5.7.0 upgrade, so the numeric html entities (as the above) now don't get decoded.

[amitguptagwl]

numeric entities were being controlled by htmlEntity flag only as in v5.7.2. Were you setting external entities?

[nunomarks]

Were you setting external entities?

No, we're merely instantiating the parser with those options shown above.

[amitguptagwl]

I can't comment on how your previous code was implemented but this is working fine when required config is set.

{
    "Data": {
        "Value": "And it's a sample"
    }
}

[nunomarks]

Here's a repro case: https://github.com/nunomarks/fxp-repro. With the default configuration, the html entities fail to get decoded. If you change the version to 5.6.0, then it works.

[amitguptagwl]

Thanks to highlight. It might be because I included entities library in that version but then migrated to its new version. But I cant confirm. Do you want me to further investigate it and mark v5.6.0 deprecated? If you really need it I can look into this as soon as I get some bandwidth.

[nunomarks]

We're fine at 5.6.0, it's not blocking us, so we can wait for the investigation whenever you have the bandwidth. Thank you!

[amitguptagwl]

How would that investigation help you? What is your expectation from that? You would have to either switch to older version 5.5.X or newer version 5.7.X if 5.6.0 was found to be culprit.

[nunomarks]

How would that investigation help you? What is your expectation from that? You would have to either switch to older version 5.5.X or newer version 5.7.X if 5.6.0 was found to be culprit.

Wasn't the "breaking version" 5.7.0? Because, according to the reproducible case, it is the affected version, not 5.6.0. We still see normal entity decoding on 5.6.0