[HTML encoding/decoding via Python standard library] Reference: http://stackoverflow.com/a/7088472

html_encoding_decoding.py

# HTML Encoding
try:
    from html import escape  # python 3.x
except ImportError:
    from cgi import escape  # python 2.x

print(escape("<"))

# HTML Decoding
try:
    from html import unescape  # python 3.4+
except ImportError:
    try:
        from html.parser import HTMLParser  # python 3.x (<3.4)
    except ImportError:
        from HTMLParser import HTMLParser  # python 2.x
    unescape = HTMLParser().unescape

print(unescape("&gt;"))