diff --git a/lib/babycode.lua b/lib/babycode.lua
index d5d5647..2c441c6 100644
--- a/lib/babycode.lua
+++ b/lib/babycode.lua
@@ -8,22 +8,22 @@ function babycode.to_html(s, escape_html)
   -- extract code blocks first and store them as placeholders
   -- don't want to process bbcode embedded into a code block
   local code_blocks = {}
-  local code_count = 0
+  s = escape_html(s)
   local text = s:gsub("%[code%](.-)%[/code%]", function(code)
-    code_count = code_count + 1
     -- strip leading and trailing newlines, preserve others
-    code_blocks[code_count] = code:gsub("^%s*(.-)%s*$", "%1")
-    return "\1CODE:"..code_count.."\1"
+    local m, _ = code:gsub("^%s*(.-)%s*$", "%1")
+    table.insert(code_blocks, m)
+    return "\1CODE:"..#code_blocks.."\1"
   end)
 
   -- replace `[url=https://example.com]Example[/url] tags
   text = text:gsub("%[url=([^%]]+)%](.-)%[/url%]", function(url, label)
-    return '<a href="'..escape_html(url)..'">'..escape_html(label)..'</a>'
+    return '<a href="'..url..'">'..label..'</a>'
   end)
   
   -- replace `[url]https://example.com[/url] tags
   text = text:gsub("%[url%]([^%]]+)%[/url%]", function(url)
-    return '<a href="'..escape_html(url)..'">'..escape_html(url)..'</a>'
+    return '<a href="'..url..'">'..url..'</a>'
   end)
 
   -- bold, italics, strikethrough
@@ -34,13 +34,16 @@ function babycode.to_html(s, escape_html)
   -- replace loose links
   text = text:gsub("(https?://[%w-_%.%?%.:/%+=&~%@#%%]+[%w-/])", function(url)
     if not text:find('<a[^>]*>'..url..'</a>') then
-      return '<a href="'..escape_html(url)..'">'..escape_html(url)..'</a>'
+      return '<a href="'..url..'">'..url..'</a>'
     end
     return url
   end)
 
+  -- rule
+  text = text:gsub("\n+%-%-%-", "<hr>")
+  
   -- normalize newlines, replace them with <br>
-  text = text:gsub("\r?\n\r?\n+", "<br>"):gsub("\r?\n", "<br>")
+  text = text:gsub("\r?\n\r?\n+", "<br>")--:gsub("\r?\n", "<br>")
 
   -- replace code block placeholders back with their original contents
   text = text:gsub("\1CODE:(%d+)\1", function(n)