PHP htmlspecialchars is not working

Question

<?php  
    $new = htmlspecialchars("<a href='test'>Test</a>", ENT_QUOTES);  
    echo $new;  
?>

output should be

& lt;a href=& #039;test& #039;>Test& lt;/a& gt; 

but output is

<a href='test'>Test</a>

Answer 1

Don't worry. htmlspecialchars() is encoding the < and > characters properly. It is just that when you echo the encoded string to your computer screen, your browser helpfully decodes the characters again. If you view the page source you will see the encoded string.