To display symbols and characters beyond the collection of common ASCII alphanumeric values (0-127), browsers recognize a special coding that lets you insert such characters into HTML document content. These entity characters start with an ampersand symbol (&) and end with a semicolon (;). Between those symbols goes a representation of the desired character in your choice of letters or numbers. For example, the numeric entity value for a copyright symbol is 169. An HTML statement using that symbol looks as follows:
<p style="text-align: center">©2002 MegaCorp, Inc. All Rights Reserved.</p>
Because the numbering system is not easy to remember, entities also have case-sensitive word or abbreviation equivalents for their values. For the copyright symbol, for example, the entity is ©. This makes the code more readable, as in the following:
<p style="text-align: center">©2002 MegaCorp, Inc. All Rights Reserved.</p>
This table lists every entity defined in the HTML 4 specification in alphabetical order. Recent browsers support the vast majority of these characters, but the user's operating system version and its internal character set also factors influence support.
Alpha entity |
Numeric entity |
Description |
---|---|---|
Á | Á |
Capital letter A with acute |
á | á |
Small letter a with acute |
 |  |
Capital letter A with circumflex |
â | â |
Small letter a with circumflex |
´ | ´ |
Acute accent |
Æ | Æ |
Capital ligature AE |
æ | æ |
Small ligature ae |
À | À |
Capital letter A with grave |
à | à |
Small letter a with grave |
ℵ | ℵ |
Alef symbol |
Α | Α |
Capital letter alpha |
α | α |
Small letter alpha |
& | & |
Ampersand |
∧ | ∧ |
Logical and |
∠ | ∠ |
Angle |
Å | Å |
Capital letter A with ring above |
å | å |
Small letter a with ring above |
≈ | ≈ |
Almost equal to |
à | à |
Capital letter A with tilde |
ã | ã |
Small letter a with tilde |
Ä | Ä |
Capital letter A with diaeresis |
ä | ä |
Small letter a with diaeresis |
„ | „ |
Double low-9 quotation mark |
Β | Β |
Capital letter beta |
β | β |
Small letter beta |
¦ | ¦ |
Broken vertical bar |
• | • |
Bullet |
∩ | ∩ |
Intersection |
Ç | Ç |
Capital letter C with cedilla |
ç | ç |
Small letter c with cedilla |
¸ | ¸ |
Cedilla |
¢ | ¢ |
Cent sign |
Χ | Χ |
Capital letter chi |
χ | χ |
Small letter chi |
ˆ | ˆ |
Modifier letter circumflex accent |
♣ | ♣ |
Black club suit (shamrock) |
≅ | ≅ |
Approximately equal to |
© | © |
Copyright sign |
↵ | ↵ |
Downwards arrow with corner leftwards (carriage return) |
∪ | ∪ |
Union |
¤ | ¤ |
Currency sign |
† | † |
Dagger |
‡ | ‡ |
Double dagger |
↓ | ↓ |
Downwards arrow |
⇓ | ⇓ |
Downwards double arrow |
° | ° |
Degree sign |
Δ | Δ |
Capital letter delta |
δ | δ |
Small letter delta |
♦ | ♦ |
Black diamond suit |
÷ | ÷ |
Division sign |
É | É |
Capital letter E with acute |
é | é |
Small letter e with acute |
Ê | Ê |
Capital letter E with circumflex |
ê | ê |
Small letter e with circumflex |
È | È |
Capital letter E with grave |
è | è |
Small letter e with grave |
∅ | ∅ |
Empty set/null set/diameter |
  |   |
Em space |
  |   |
En space |
Ε | Ε |
Capital letter epsilon |
ε | ε |
Small letter epsilon |
≡ | ≡ |
Identical to |
Η | Η |
Capital letter eta |
η | η |
Small letter eta |
Ð | Ð |
Capital letter ETH |
ð | ð |
Small letter eth |
Ë | Ë |
Capital letter E with diaeresis |
ë | ë |
Small letter e with diaeresis |
€ | €[24] |
Euro sign |
∃ | ∃ |
There exists |
ƒ | ƒ |
Small f with hook |
∀ | ∀ |
For all |
½ | ½ |
Fraction one-half |
¼ | ¼ |
Fraction one-quarter |
¾ | ¾ |
Fraction three-quarters |
⁄ | ⁄ |
Fraction slash |
Γ | Γ |
Capital letter gamma |
γ | γ |
Small letter gamma |
≥ | ≥ |
Greater-than or equal to |
> | > |
Greater-than sign |
↔ | ↔ |
Left right arrow |
⇔ | ⇔ |
Left right double arrow |
♥ | ♥ |
Black heart suit |
… | … |
Horizontal ellipsis |
Í | Í |
Capital letter I with acute |
í | í |
Small letter i with acute |
Î | Î |
Capital letter I with circumflex |
î | î |
Small letter i with circumflex |
¡ | ¡ |
Inverted exclamation mark |
Ì | Ì |
Capital letter I with grave |
ì | ì |
Small letter i with grave |
ℑ | ℑ |
Blackletter capital I |
∞ | ∞ |
Infinity |
∫ | ∫ |
Integral |
Ι | Ι |
Capital letter iota |
ι | ι |
Small letter iota |
¿ | ¿ |
Inverted question mark |
∈ | ∈ |
Element of |
Ï | Ï |
Capital letter I with diaeresis |
ï | ï |
Small letter i with diaeresis |
Κ | Κ |
Capital letter kappa |
κ | κ |
Small letter kappa |
Λ | Λ |
Capital letter lambda |
λ | λ |
Small letter lambda |
⟨ | 〈 |
Left-pointing angle bracket (bra) |
« | « |
Left-pointing double angle quotation mark (guillemet) |
← | ← |
Leftwards arrow |
⇐ | ⇐ |
Leftwards double arrow |
⌈ | ⌈ |
Left ceiling |
“ | “ |
Left double quotation mark |
≤ | ≤ |
Less-than or equal to |
⌊ | ⌊ |
Left floor |
∗ | ∗ |
Asterisk operator |
◊ | ◊ |
Lozenge |
‎ | ‎ |
Left-to-right mark |
‹ | ‹ |
Single left-pointing angle quotation mark |
‘ | ‘ |
Left single quotation mark |
< | < |
Less-than sign |
¯ | ¯ |
Macron (overline) |
— | — |
Em dash |
µ | µ |
Micro sign |
· | · |
Georgian comma |
− | − |
Minus sign |
Μ | Μ |
Capital letter mu |
μ | μ |
Small letter mu |
∇ | ∇ |
Nabla |
|   |
Nonbreaking space |
– | – |
En dash |
≠ | ≠ |
Not equal to |
∋ | ∋ |
Contains as member |
¬ | ¬ |
Not sign (discretionary hyphen) |
∉ | ∉ |
Not an element of |
⊄ | ⊄ |
Not a subset of |
Ñ | Ñ |
Capital letter N with tilde |
ñ | ñ |
Small letter n with tilde |
Ν | Ν |
Capital letter nu |
ν | ν |
Small letter nu |
Ó | Ó |
Capital letter O with acute |
ó | ó |
Small letter o with acute |
Ô | Ô |
Capital letter O with circumflex |
ô | ô |
Small letter o with circumflex |
Œ | Œ |
Capital ligature OE |
œ | œ |
Small ligature oe |
Ò | Ò |
Capital letter O with grave |
ò | ò |
Small letter o with grave |
‾ | ‾ |
Overline |
Ω | Ω |
Capital letter omega |
ω | ω |
Small letter omega |
Ο | Ο |
Capital letter omicron |
ο | ο |
Small letter omicron |
⊕ | ⊕ |
Circled plus |
∨ | ∨ |
Logical or |
ª | ª |
Feminine ordinal indicator |
º | º |
Masculine ordinal indicator |
Ø | Ø |
Capital letter O with stroke |
ø | ø |
Small letter o with stroke |
Õ | Õ |
Capital letter O with tilde |
õ | õ |
Small letter o with tilde |
⊗ | ⊗ |
Circled times |
Ö | Ö |
Capital letter O with diaeresis |
ö | ö |
Small letter o with diaeresis |
¶ | ¶ |
Paragraph (pilcrow) sign |
∂ | ∂ |
Partial differential |
‰ | ‰ |
Per mille sign |
⊥ | ⊥ |
Up tack/orthagonal to/perpendicular |
Φ | Φ |
Capital letter phi |
φ | φ |
Small letter phi |
Π | Π |
Capital letter pi |
π | π |
Small letter pi |
ϖ | ϖ |
symbol |
± | ± |
Plus-or-minus sign |
£ | £ |
Pound sign |
′ | ′ |
Prime/minutes/feet |
″ | ″ |
Double prime/seconds/inches |
∏ | ∏ |
N-ary product (product sign) |
∝ | ∝ |
Proportional to |
Ψ | Ψ |
Capital letter psi |
ψ | ψ |
Small letter psi |
" | " |
Quotation mark |
√ | √ |
Square root |
⟩ | 〉 |
Right-pointing angle bracket (ket) |
» | » |
Right-pointing double angle quotation mark (guillemet) |
→ | → |
Rightwards arrow |
⇒ | ⇒ |
Rightwards double arrow |
⌉ | ⌉ |
Right ceiling |
” | ” |
Right double quotation mark |
ℜ | ℜ |
Blackletter capital R |
® | ® |
Registered trademark sign |
⌋ | ⌋ |
Right floor |
Ρ | Ρ |
Capital letter rho |
ρ | ρ |
Small letter rho |
‏ | ‏ |
Right-to-left mark |
› | › |
Single right-pointing angle quotation mark |
’ | ’ |
Right single quotation mark |
‚ | ‚ |
Single low-9 quotation mark |
Š | Š |
Capital letter S with caron |
š | š |
Small letter s with caron |
⋅ | ⋅ |
Dot operator |
§ | § |
Section sign |
­ | ­ |
Soft hyphen (discretionary hyphen) |
Σ | Σ |
Capital letter sigma |
σ | σ |
Small letter sigma |
ς | ς |
Small letter final sigma |
∼ | ∼ |
Tilde operator |
♠ | ♠ |
Black spade suit |
⊂ | ⊂ |
Subset of |
⊆ | ⊆ |
Subset of or equal to |
∑ | ∑ |
N-ary sumation |
⊃ | ⊃ |
Superset of |
¹ | ¹ |
Superscript digit one |
² | ² |
Superscript digit two (squared) |
³ | ³ |
Superscript digit three (cubed) |
⊇ | ⊇ |
Superset of or equal to |
ß | ß |
Small letter sharp s (ess-zed) |
Τ | Τ |
Capital letter tau |
τ | τ |
Small letter tau |
∴ | ∴ |
Therefore |
Θ | Θ |
Capital letter theta |
θ | θ |
Small letter theta |
ϑ | ϑ |
Small letter theta symbol |
  |   |
Thin space |
Þ | Þ |
Capital letter thorn |
þ | þ |
Small letter thorn |
˜ | ˜ |
Small tilde |
× | × |
Multiplication sign |
™ | ™ |
Trademark sign |
Ú | Ú |
Capital letter U with acute |
ú | ú |
Small letter u with acute |
↑ | ↑ |
Upwards arrow |
⇑ | ⇑ |
Upwards double arrow |
Û | Û |
Capital letter U with circumflex |
û | û |
Small letter u with circumflex |
Ù | Ù |
Capital letter U with grave |
ù | ù |
Small letter u with grave |
¨ | ¨ |
Diaeresis |
ϒ | ϒ |
Upsilon with hook symbol |
Υ | Υ |
Capital letter upsilon |
υ | υ |
Small letter upsilon |
Ü | Ü |
Capital letter U with diaeresis |
ü | ü |
Small letter u with diaeresis |
℘ | ℘ |
Script capital P |
Ξ | Ξ |
Capital letter xi |
ξ | ξ |
Small letter xi |
Ý | Ý |
Capital letter Y with acute |
ý | ý |
Small letter y with acute |
¥ | ¥ |
Yen/yuan sign |
Ÿ | Ÿ |
Capital letter Y with diaeresis |
ÿ | ÿ |
Small letter y with diaeresis |
Ζ | Ζ |
Capital letter zeta |
ζ | ζ |
Small letter zeta |
‍ | ‍ |
Zero width joiner |
‌ | ‌ |
Zero width nonjoiner |
[24]This character's numeric entity does not render in IE 5 for Macintosh.
Copyright © 2003 O'Reilly & Associates. All rights reserved.