How to remove HTML markup from string

Let's say I have:

@string = "it is a <a href="#">string</a>"

I want to use it in different parts of my application in two ways:

• With a clickable link
• Without the clickable link (but not showing any HTML markup)

The first one can be done using html_safe:

@string.html_safe

It is a string

How can I achieve the second one?

It is a string.