use URI;
use HTML::Entities;

my $u = URI->new("/my/cgi");
$u->query_form("gun" => "Smith & Wesson", drink => "Jack Daniels");
print
  '<A HREF="',
  encode_entities("$u"),
  '">',
  encode_entities("shoot with Smith & Wesson, and drink Jack Daniels"),
  '</A>', "\n";

##</code><code>##

<A HREF="/my/cgi?gun=Smith+%26+Wesson&amp;drink=Jack+Daniels">shoot with Smith &amp; Wesson, and drink Jack Daniels</A>