Less than or equal (≤) and greater than or equal (≥)
The two inclusive inequality signs are U+2264 and U+2265, with the named references ≤ and ≥. Each is a comparison sign with a single bar underneath.
At a glance
- Character
- ≤ ≥
- Named entity
- ≤ ≥
- Decimal reference
- ≤ ≥
- Hex reference
- ≤ ≥
- Unicode code point
- U+2264, U+2265
- Unicode name
- LESS-THAN OR EQUAL TO, GREATER-THAN OR EQUAL TO
- In the entity reference
- Math
In detail
These two are drawn with a horizontal bar under the angle. A second pair exists at U+2A7D and U+2A7E where the bar is slanted, which is the form preferred in French and Russian mathematical typography. They mean exactly the same thing; only the drawing differs, and choosing between them is a house style decision rather than a mathematical one.
The named entities are short and easy to mistype, and there is no forgiving fallback: an unrecognised name renders as literal text rather than as an error. Writing the name for the greater than sign when you meant the greater than or equal sign is a one letter slip that changes the meaning of a specification from inclusive to exclusive, and nothing in the toolchain will flag it.
In requirements and price tables these characters are doing real work, and the inclusive or exclusive distinction is the whole point of the sentence. Where an audience is not mathematical, writing at least and at most in words removes any chance of the reader mentally rounding the symbol to the nearer plain comparison.
As with the not equal sign, code samples keep their ASCII operators. Every language writes these comparisons with two ASCII characters, and substituting the single glyph for the pair makes a snippet unrunnable. The rule is simple: prose gets the mathematical character, code blocks get exactly what the compiler accepts.
Examples
<p>Accepted when 0 ≤ score ≤ 100.</p>
<p>Free shipping on orders ≥ £40.</p><p>upright bar: ≤ ≥</p>
<p>slanted bar: ⩽ ⩾</p>⩽ is U+2A7D and ⩾ is U+2A7E. Neither is in the entity reference tool's list.
Things that catch people out
- ≤ and < differ by one letter and mean different things. A typo here quietly changes an inclusive bound into an exclusive one.
- Screen readers vary on whether they say less than or equal to or just less than for this character, so a legal or contractual bound should also appear in words.
- Right to left content reverses the visual direction of comparison operators, which can make a bidirectional page appear to state the opposite condition.
Try it: HTML Entity Reference
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HTML Entity Reference
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152 entities across 9 categories
Commonly Used
→Arrows(13)
±Math(35)
$Currency(8)
…Punctuation(21)
©Symbols(24)
πGreek(30)
½Fractions(6)
●Geometric(7)
æLatin Special(8)
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Related HTML entities
All html entities →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 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.
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.
Tools for this
- HTML Entity Reference Free online HTML entity reference - search and copy HTML entities with live preview
- HTML Entity Encoder Free online HTML entity encoder - encode or decode HTML entities to prevent XSS and display issues