HTML Entities: Character Codes, Names and Escaping Rules
One page per character or family of characters that people look up when writing markup. Each gives the named entity, the decimal and hex numeric references, the Unicode code point and name, and the part that most lookup tables leave out: whether you have to escape the thing at all, and what breaks when you do it in the wrong place. The searchable entity reference sits on every page so you can copy the exact form you need.
Every page here embeds the HTML Entity Reference. Search 152 entities across 9 categories, switch the copy format between the character, the name, the decimal form and the hex form, and copy in one click.
65 pages in this section.
Kind Punctuation
Ampersand (&) in HTML
The ampersand opens every character reference, so a bare & in markup is ambiguous. What & fixes, and the query string trap that quietly eats a parameter.
Less than sign (<) in HTML
A literal < starts a tag, so text containing it has to be written <. Where the parser recovers, where it does not, and why this is the core of escaping.
Greater than sign (>) in HTML
A lone > is legal in HTML text but not everywhere. The contexts that force >, the comment and CDATA rules, and why escapers emit it anyway.
Double quotation mark (") in HTML
The straight double quote ends an attribute value, so it needs " there. Where that matters, where it does not, and how JSON in a data attribute breaks.
Apostrophe (') in HTML
' is defined in HTML5 and XML but was absent from HTML 4.01. Why ' is the safer numeric form and when a single quote actually needs escaping.
Em dash (—) in HTML
The em dash at U+2014, its named, decimal and hex references, how it differs from the en dash and hyphen, and the practical reasons to prefer a comma.
En dash (–) in HTML
The en dash at U+2013 joins ranges and paired terms. Its entity forms, how wide it really is, and how to stop spreadsheets turning your ranges into dates.
Ellipsis (…) in HTML
The horizontal ellipsis at U+2026 versus three typed periods. Entity forms, line breaking behaviour, search implications and the CSS text-overflow case.
Bullet (•) in HTML
The bullet at U+2022 with its entity forms, why a real list beats a typed bullet, and how to use it as a separator without confusing a screen reader.
Middle dot (·) in HTML
The interpunct at U+00B7, its entity forms, its use as a byline separator, its role in Catalan spelling, and how it differs from the bullet and dot operator.
Curly quotes: ‘ ’ “ and ”
The opening and closing single and double curly quotes, their entities and code points, when they help prose and when they break code and search.
Guillemets (« and ») in HTML
The double angle quotation marks at U+00AB and U+00BB, how their direction changes by language, the French spacing rule, and why they are poor UI chevrons.
Section sign (§) in HTML
The section sign at U+00A7 with its entity forms, how the doubled form marks a range of sections, and why it should never be separated from its number.
Pilcrow (¶) in HTML
The paragraph sign at U+00B6, its entity forms, its use in editors to show invisible characters, and how it works as a heading anchor without noise.
Dagger (†) and double dagger (‡)
The dagger at U+2020 and double dagger at U+2021, the traditional footnote symbol order, the case sensitive entity names, and the date convention.
Kind Symbols
Copyright symbol (©) in HTML
The copyright sign at U+00A9 with its named, decimal and hex references, what a copyright notice actually does, and why (c) in brackets is not a substitute.
Registered sign (®) in HTML
The registered trade mark sign at U+00AE, its entity forms, the difference between it and the trademark symbol, and the rule about which marks may carry it.
Trademark symbol (™) in HTML
The trade mark sign at U+2122, its entity and numeric forms, how it differs from the registered sign, and the service mark character that has no entity.
Micro sign (µ) in HTML
The micro sign at U+00B5 and the Greek small mu at U+03BC look identical and are different code points. Which one to use for units, and how to normalise them.
Check mark and cross mark characters in HTML
The tick and cross characters at U+2713, U+2714, U+2717 and U+2718, their numeric references, font coverage problems, and why colour alone is not enough.
Star symbols in HTML: filled and outlined
The black and white star characters, their numeric references, how to build an accessible star rating, and why half stars need clipping rather than a glyph.
Heart symbol in HTML: ♥ and U+2764
The black heart suit at U+2665 and the heavy black heart at U+2764, how variation selectors switch between text and emoji rendering, and which to use where.
Card suits in HTML: spade, club and diamond
The spade, club and diamond suit characters with their named entities and code points, the outlined variants, and how to colour the red suits correctly.
Box drawing characters in HTML
The box drawing block at U+2500 to U+257F, the light, heavy and double stroke sets, and the CSS and font rules that stop a text diagram falling apart.
Kind Currency
Euro sign (€) in HTML
The euro sign at U+20AC, why it fell outside Latin-1, which side of the amount it belongs on in each language, and how to format currency properly.
Pound sign (£) in HTML
The pound sign at U+00A3, its entity forms, why the name is ambiguous between sterling and the hash key, and the encoding bug that doubles the character.
Yen sign (¥) in HTML
The yen sign at U+00A5, its entity forms, the one and two bar variants, why it is shared with the yuan, and the backslash problem on older Japanese systems.
Cent sign (¢) in HTML
The cent sign at U+00A2, its entity forms, why it follows the amount instead of preceding it, and why it has all but disappeared from modern pricing.
Indian rupee sign (U+20B9) in HTML
The Indian rupee sign at U+20B9, why it has only numeric references, how it differs from the generic rupee sign, and the digit grouping it belongs with.
Kind Maths
Degree sign (°) in HTML
The degree sign at U+00B0, its entity forms, the spacing rule that differs between temperatures and angles, and the three characters it gets confused with.
Plus minus sign (±) in HTML
The plus minus sign at U+00B1, its entity forms, how it reads in a tolerance versus a measurement uncertainty, and the minus plus character that reverses it.
Multiplication sign (×) in HTML
The multiplication sign at U+00D7, its entity forms, why image dimensions should not use a letter x, and the other cross characters it is confused with.
Division sign (÷) in HTML
The division sign at U+00F7, its entity forms, why standards bodies discourage it, and the slash and fraction characters that replace it in published maths.
Minus sign (−) in HTML
The true minus sign at U+2212 and the hyphen-minus at U+002D. Why negative numbers in a table need the real character, and where it breaks copy and paste.
Not equal to sign (≠) in HTML
The not equal to sign at U+2260, its entity forms, why the composed and combining versions differ, and how it compares to the operators used in code.
Less than or equal (≤) and greater than or equal (≥)
The inequality signs at U+2264 and U+2265, their entity forms, the slanted variants used in some traditions, and when to keep the ASCII operators instead.
Approximately equal to (≈) in HTML
The almost equal to sign at U+2248 with its entity forms, and how it differs from the congruent, asymptotic and identical to signs it is confused with.
Infinity symbol (∞) in HTML
The infinity sign at U+221E, its entity forms, how it differs from the permanent paper and infinity emoji characters, and its use in pricing and limits.
Per mille sign (‰) in HTML
The per mille sign at U+2030, its entity forms, where parts per thousand are the natural unit, and the per ten thousand character used for basis points.
Square root symbol (√) in HTML
The radical sign at U+221A, its entity forms, why it has no overbar, when parentheses are compulsory, and the cube and fourth root characters.
Fraction characters: one half, one quarter, three quarters
The vulgar fraction characters at U+00BC, U+00BD and U+00BE, their entity forms, the wider fraction block, and when a fraction slash is the better answer.
Superscript one, two and three in HTML
The superscript digit characters at U+00B9, U+00B2 and U+00B3, their entity forms, the rest of the superscript block, and when the sup element is better.
Mathematical operator entities: sets, logic and calculus
Named entities for summation, integral, partial differential, set membership, union, intersection and the logical connectives, with their code points.
Kind Arrows
Right arrow (→) in HTML
The rightwards arrow at U+2192, its entity forms, using it in a call to action without confusing a screen reader, and how it behaves in right to left text.
Left arrow (←) in HTML
The leftwards arrow at U+2190, its entity forms, why a back link needs a real destination, and the direction problem in right to left interfaces.
Up and down arrows (↑ and ↓) in HTML
The upwards and downwards arrows at U+2191 and U+2193, their entity forms, their use as sort indicators, and why aria-sort does the real work.
Double arrows (⇐, ⇒, ⇔) in HTML
The double stroke arrows at U+21D0, U+21D2 and U+21D4, their case sensitive entity names, and what implication and equivalence actually assert.
Diagonal arrows: north east, south east and neighbours
The four diagonal arrows at U+2196 to U+2199, their numeric references, the external link convention, and why they have no named HTML entities.
Kind Greek letters
Alpha (α) in HTML
The Greek letter alpha at U+0391 and U+03B1, its entity forms, its meanings in transparency and statistics, and the Latin A it is indistinguishable from.
Beta (β) in HTML
The Greek letter beta at U+0392 and U+03B2, its entity forms, its meanings in regression and finance, and the German eszett it is mistaken for.
Gamma (γ) in HTML
The Greek letter gamma at U+0393 and U+03B3, its entity forms, what gamma correction actually encodes, and the gamma function that shares the letter.
Delta (δ) in HTML
The Greek letter delta at U+0394 and U+03B4, its entity forms, the increment sign that looks identical, and what a capital delta asserts about a quantity.
Epsilon (ε) in HTML
The Greek letter epsilon at U+0395 and U+03B5, its entity forms, the lunate variant, and what machine epsilon means in floating point comparison.
Theta (θ) in HTML
The Greek letter theta at U+0398 and U+03B8, its entity forms, its role as the default angle variable, and what big theta asserts about an algorithm.
Lambda (λ) in HTML
The Greek letter lambda at U+039B and U+03BB, its entity forms, its use for wavelength and decay, and where the anonymous function name came from.
Mu (μ) in HTML
The Greek letter mu at U+039C and U+03BC, its entity forms, the separate micro sign it duplicates, and its meanings in statistics and mechanics.
Pi (π) in HTML
The Greek letter pi at U+03A0 and U+03C0, its entity forms, the capital pi that is not the product operator, and how to write pi in code correctly.
Sigma (σ) in HTML
The Greek letter sigma at U+03A3 and U+03C3, its entity forms, the summation operator it is confused with, and the final sigma used at the end of a word.
Phi (φ) in HTML
The Greek letter phi at U+03A6 and U+03C6, its entity forms, the loopy and straight glyph variants, and the golden ratio it conventionally names.
Omega (ω) in HTML
The Greek letter omega at U+03A9 and U+03C9, its entity forms, the separate ohm sign that normalises onto it, and its use for angular frequency.
Kind Spaces and invisibles
Non-breaking space ( ) in HTML
The no-break space at U+00A0, what it prevents beyond line breaking, why it defeats site search, and the CSS properties that do the job better.
Zero width space (U+200B) in HTML
The zero width space at U+200B, why it is not in the entity reference tool, how it lets long strings wrap, and the trouble an invisible character causes.
Soft hyphen (­) in HTML
The soft hyphen at U+00AD, what it does that a normal hyphen cannot, why it wrecks copy and search, and when CSS hyphenation is the better answer.
Thin space ( ) in HTML
The thin space at U+2009, its named reference, its use as a digit group separator, and the narrow no-break space that stops a number splitting.
Em space ( ) and en space ( ) in HTML
The em space at U+2003 and en space at U+2002, their named references, how their widths track the font size, and why CSS is usually the better tool.