HTML Entities Reference

A reference of common HTML entities, the must-escape characters, punctuation and quotes, currency and legal symbols, math symbols, and arrows, with named and numeric codes.

HTML entities let you display reserved or special characters by name or number. You must escape &, <, and > in content, and quotes inside attributes. Each entity is a named code (&name;) or a numeric code (&#NNN;).

Must-escape & common

CharNamedNumericDescription
&&amp;&#38;Ampersand
<&lt;&#60;Less-than (opens a tag)
>&gt;&#62;Greater-than
"&quot;&#34;Double quote
'&apos;&#39;Single quote / apostrophe
 &nbsp;&#160;Non-breaking space

Punctuation & quotes

CharNamedNumericDescription
–&ndash;&#8211;En dash
—&mdash;&#8212;Em dash
…&hellip;&#8230;Horizontal ellipsis
‘&lsquo;&#8216;Left single quote
’&rsquo;&#8217;Right single quote
“&ldquo;&#8220;Left double quote
”&rdquo;&#8221;Right double quote
•&bull;&#8226;Bullet
†&dagger;&#8224;Dagger

Currency & legal

CharNamedNumericDescription
¢&cent;&#162;Cent
£&pound;&#163;Pound sterling
€&euro;&#8364;Euro
¥&yen;&#165;Yen
©&copy;&#169;Copyright
®&reg;&#174;Registered trademark
™&trade;&#8482;Trademark
°&deg;&#176;Degree

Math & symbols

CharNamedNumericDescription
×&times;&#215;Multiplication
÷&divide;&#247;Division
±&plusmn;&#177;Plus-minus
≠&ne;&#8800;Not equal
≤&le;&#8804;Less than or equal
≥&ge;&#8805;Greater than or equal
½&frac12;&#189;One half
∞&infin;&#8734;Infinity

Arrows

CharNamedNumericDescription
←&larr;&#8592;Left arrow
→&rarr;&#8594;Right arrow
↑&uarr;&#8593;Up arrow
↓&darr;&#8595;Down arrow
↔&harr;&#8596;Left-right arrow

If your page is saved as UTF-8 (the modern default), you can usually type most of these characters directly. Entities remain useful for the reserved characters and for symbols that are hard to type or easy to confuse.

What this does

An HTML entities reference lists common entities — must-escape characters, punctuation, currency and legal symbols, math symbols, and arrows.

How to use it

  1. Find a symbol.
  2. Read its named and numeric code.
  3. Copy the entity with one tap.
  4. Paste it into your HTML.

Example

&amp; renders an ampersand without breaking your markup.

Sources & methodology

Last updated .

Frequently asked questions

Which characters must I escape in HTML?

Always escape & as &amp;, < as &lt;, and > as &gt; in content, plus quotes inside attribute values. Otherwise they may be interpreted as markup.

What’s the difference between named and numeric entities?

A named entity like &copy; is easier to read; a numeric one like &#169; references the character by its code point. Both render the same symbol.

Do I still need entities with UTF-8?

For most symbols you can type the character directly in a UTF-8 page. Entities remain essential for the reserved characters (&, <, >) and useful for hard-to-type symbols.