Description #
BBCode (Bulletin Board Code) is a lightweight markup language used to format posts on forums and message boards. It provides simple tags enclosed in square brackets for styling text and embedding content.
History #
BBCode was introduced in the late 1990s by developers of the Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) forum software. It was created as a safer, simplified alternative to HTML that users could use without the risk of injecting scripts.
Hello World Code #
[b]Hello, World![/b]How to Run #
Option 1: Online
Try it with a BBCode-to-HTML converter:
https://www.bbcode.org/playground.php
Option 2: Local
Use within any forum software (e.g., phpBB, MyBB) or use a parser in your language:
Example in PHP:
$text = "[b]Hello, World![/b]";
$html = preg_replace('/\[b\](.*?)\[\/b\]/', '<strong>$1</strong>', $text);
echo $html;Key Concepts #
- Uses square-bracket tags like
[b],[i],[url] - No scripting or complex logic
- Used in forums, comment systems, and text editors
- Safe alternative to raw HTML
- Supports bold, italics, images, links, lists, quotes
- Some platforms extend it with custom tags
- Parsed server-side before rendering
- Highly portable across platforms
- Designed for user-generated content
- Still widely supported in legacy web apps
Try It Online #
https://www.bbcode.org/playground.php
Fun Facts #
- Many early online communities used BBCode as their default formatting language.
- Some gaming forums and fan sites still rely on BBCode today.
- Though Markdown has largely replaced it in modern platforms, BBCode still lives on in many legacy systems.
Resources #
Official site
Docs or tutorial
GitHub or interpreter
Community or learning resources
