django render_to_response how to send special characters

Question

I have a string which is to be displayed in an html file. Certain words (tagged as "spc") in the string need to be displayed in yellow background and larger font.

I was trying to send the string (called tdoc) to the html file using render_to_response method. I replaced the 'spc' tag in the string with a div tag. Suppose, after replacement, part of the string is we would seldom be prepared to <div id="spcl">examine</div> every. My django code looks like render_to_response('a.html',{'taggeddoc':tdoc})

In my css, I have following code

 #spcl {  
background-color: #FFFF00;  
font-size:15px;  
}  

So, I should see the word examine in bold font and yellow background, but I don't see that. When I viewed the source of the rendered html, it has following substring We would seldom be prepared to <div id="spcl">examine</div> every instead of the original string.

How can I make the word 'examine' and similar words display in the required way?

Answer 1

Use mark_safe to prevent html escape:

from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe

...

render_to_response('a.html', {'taggeddoc': mark_safe(tdoc)})

Or use safe filter in template:

{{ taggeddoc|safe }}

Example:

>>> from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
>>> from django.template import Template, Context

# without mark_safe, safe
>>> print(Template('{{ taggeddoc }}').render(Context({'taggeddoc': '<div>hello</div>'})))
&lt;div&gt;hello&lt;/div&gt;

# mark_safe
>>> print(Template('{{ taggeddoc }}').render(Context({'taggeddoc': mark_safe('<div>hello</div>')})))
<div>hello</div>

# safe filter
>>> print(Template('{{ taggeddoc|safe }}').render(Context({'taggeddoc': '<div>hello</div>'})))
<div>hello</div>