proc htmlcodes {text} {
   # code below is neccessary to prevent numerous html markups
   # from appearing in the output (ie, ", ᘧ, etc)
   # stolen (borrowed is a better term) from perplexa's urban
   # dictionary script..
   if {![string match *&* $text]} {return $text}
   set escapes {
     “ "\"" ” "\""
       \x20 " \x22 & \x26 ' \x27 – \x2D
     < \x3C > \x3E ˜ \x7E € \x80 ¡ \xA1
     ¢ \xA2 £ \xA3 ¤ \xA4 ¥ \xA5 ¦ \xA6
     § \xA7 ¨ \xA8 © \xA9 ª \xAA « \xAB
     ¬ \xAC ­ \xAD ® \xAE &hibar; \xAF ° \xB0
     ± \xB1 ² \xB2 ³ \xB3 ´ \xB4 µ \xB5
     ¶ \xB6 · \xB7 ¸ \xB8 ¹ \xB9 º \xBA
     » \xBB ¼ \xBC ½ \xBD ¾ \xBE ¿ \xBF
     À \xC0 Á \xC1 Â \xC2 Ã \xC3 Ä \xC4
     Å \xC5 Æ \xC6 Ç \xC7 È \xC8 É \xC9
     Ê \xCA Ë \xCB Ì \xCC Í \xCD Î \xCE
     Ï \xCF Ð \xD0 Ñ \xD1 Ò \xD2 Ó \xD3
     Ô \xD4 Õ \xD5 Ö \xD6 × \xD7 Ø \xD8
     Ù \xD9 Ú \xDA Û \xDB Ü \xDC Ý \xDD
     Þ \xDE ß \xDF à \xE0 á \xE1 â \xE2
     ã \xE3 ä \xE4 å \xE5 æ \xE6 ç \xE7
     è \xE8 é \xE9 ê \xEA ë \xEB ì \xEC
     í \xED î \xEE ï \xEF ð \xF0 ñ \xF1
     ò \xF2 ó \xF3 ô \xF4 õ \xF5 ö \xF6
     ÷ \xF7 ø \xF8 ù \xF9 ú \xFA û \xFB
     ü \xFC ý \xFD þ \xFE ÿ \xFF ‎ "" ‏ ""
     ‬ "" ‭ "" ‮ "" … \x85 — \x97 — \x97
   };
   set text [string map $escapes $text]
   set text [string map [list "\]" "\\\]" "\[" "\\\[" "\$" "\\\$" "\\" "\\\\"] $text]
   regsub -all -- {\\x([[:xdigit:]]{1,2})} $text {[format %c [scan "\1" %x]]} text
   regsub -all -- {&#([[:digit:]]{1,5});} $text {[format %c [string trimleft "\1" "0"]]} text
   regsub -all -- {&#x([[:xdigit:]]{1,4});} $text {[format %c [scan "\1" %x]]} text
   regsub -all -- {&#?[[:alnum:]]{2,7};} $text "?" text
   return [subst $text]
}