use HTML::Entities qw(encode_entities_numeric);

# unicode/character string
my $in = qq(Sample data & and text for some <conversion> \x{201C}text\x{201D}.);  

print encode_entities_numeric($in);
    
__END__
Sample data &#x26; and text for some &#x3C;conversion&#x3E; &#x201C;text&#x201D;.