How can I convert my htmlBody to plainTextBody using Apex/Regex

Question

The emails that are being recieved by my apex-email-service do not have plainTextBodies. Is there a way to convert HTML to PlaintextBody in apex?

Originally I was trying to auto-forward mail in plainText through gmail. Unfortunately they don't support this feature. If you manually forward the email through gmail, you can convert it to plain text. But I am trying to create a system that doesn't require manual labor. @AdrianLarson — Alex Brigham, Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 19:53
You could try just replacing all tags with the empty string. Sample regex: <\/?\w*\b[^>]*>. — Adrian Larson, Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 20:01
So this would replace all tags and their contents. Would that really cause a complete conversion from html to plaintext? I know there may also be some CSS in there...but besides that, is this foolproof? @AdrianLarson — Alex Brigham, Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 20:25
Far from foolproof. You could or in a search for <style> tags and include their contents. For example: <style>[^<]*<\/style>|<\/?\w*\b[^>]*>. — Adrian Larson, Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 20:33

techbusinessman · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-31 20:40:55Z

10

I think rather than using any RegEx, you can just use a built in String method: stripHtmlTags.

So it would look like:

String plainText = htmlBody.stripHtmlTags();

answered Mar 31, 2017 at 20:40

techbusinessman

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With the following caveat: The stripHtmlTags function does not recursively strip tags; therefore, tags may still exist in the returned string. Do not use the stripHtmlTags function to sanitize input for inclusion as a raw HTML page. The unescaped output is not considered safe to include in an HTML document. The function will be deprecated in a future release.
– Dave Roberts
Commented Dec 2, 2021 at 12:11

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Adrian Larson · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-19 23:41:11Z

3

Just realized that I basically answered this in the comments, so it might make sense to post as a proper answer.

I would just try to replace all tags with the empty string. Example:

Pattern tagPattern = Pattern.compile('<\/?\w*\b[^>]*>');
String plainTextBody = tagPattern.matcher(htmlBody).replaceAll('');

answered Mar 19, 2016 at 23:41

Adrian Larson♦

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why not just use .stripHTMLTags? developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/…
– techbusinessman
Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 20:38
2

@techbusinessman Because I wasn't aware of that function at the time. This post is over a year old now.
– Adrian Larson ♦
Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 20:46
Just saw that ;)
– techbusinessman
Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 20:47
You'll also need to escape the backslash with double backslaches: String regExp = '<style>[^<]*<\\/style>|<\\/?\\w*\\b[^>]*>'; Pattern tagPattern = Pattern.compile(regExp); String plainTextBody = tagPattern.matcher(emailContent).replaceAll('');
– Dave Roberts
Commented Dec 2, 2021 at 12:38

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2 Answers 2