# How to disable character escaping in collection\_select

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-disable-character-escaping-in-collection-select/193828>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 25, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-disable-character-escaping-in-collection-select/193828 "2010-08-25T07:06:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mitch\_newbie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@mitch\_newbie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mitch_newbie)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-disable-character-escaping-in-collection-select/193828/1 "2010-08-25T07:06:09Z")

</div>

I have a drop down using collection\_select

\<%= form.collection\_select(:country,@countries, :name, :name,options  
={:prompt =\> t(‘services.req\_form.country\_prompt’)}, :escape =\> false )  
%\>

I read somewhere that putting :escape =\> false in the options would  
disable character escaping.

This does not seem to work. I am using the unicode values for french  
accents and need to display the accent. However Rails helper escapes the  
ampersand so I get the wrong code “&” instead of “&”.

How can I stop this from happening.

Thanks