HTML Entities Guide

Introduction

HTML entities are special codes used to display characters that have special meaning in HTML or characters that aren't easily typed on a keyboard. They start with an ampersand (&) and end with a semicolon (;).

Types of HTML Entities

Named Entities

Human-readable names for characters

© → ©

Numeric Entities

Decimal or hexadecimal codes

© → ©

Required Escapes

Characters that must be escaped in HTML

< > &

Browser Support

All modern browsers support HTML entities

Works in all browsers

Tip: Use named entities when possible as they're more readable. Numeric entities work in all contexts but are harder to remember.

Essential Entities

These characters must be escaped in HTML to prevent parsing issues or to display correctly.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
<	`<`	`<`	Less than (must escape)
>	`>`	`>`	Greater than (must escape)
&	`&`	`&`	Ampersand (must escape)
"	`"`	`"`	Double quote (in attributes)
'	`'`	`'`	Single quote (in attributes)
	` `	` `	Non-breaking space

Symbols & Punctuation

Common symbols and punctuation marks used in web content.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
©	`©`	`©`	Copyright symbol
®	`®`	`®`	Registered trademark
™	`™`	`™`	Trademark symbol
•	`•`	`•`	Bullet point
§	`§`	`§`	Section symbol
¶	`¶`	`¶`	Paragraph symbol
†	`&dagger;`	`†`	Dagger
‡	`&Dagger;`	`‡`	Double dagger
°	`°`	`°`	Degree symbol
…	`…`	`…`	Horizontal ellipsis
–	`–`	`–`	En dash
—	`—`	`—`	Em dash
'	`‘`	`‘`	Left single quotation mark
'	`’`	`’`	Right single quotation mark
"	`“`	`“`	Left double quotation mark
"	`”`	`”`	Right double quotation mark

Arrows

Directional arrows for navigation, instructions, and UI elements.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
←	`←`	`←`	Left arrow
→	`→`	`→`	Right arrow
↑	`↑`	`↑`	Up arrow
↓	`↓`	`↓`	Down arrow
↔	`↔`	`↔`	Left-right arrow
↕	`&varr;`	`↕`	Up-down arrow
↖	`&nwarr;`	`↖`	Northwest arrow
↗	`&nearr;`	`↗`	Northeast arrow
↘	`&searr;`	`↘`	Southeast arrow
↙	`&swarr;`	`↙`	Southwest arrow
⇐	`⇐`	`⇐`	Left double arrow
⇒	`⇒`	`⇒`	Right double arrow
⇑	`&uArr;`	`⇑`	Up double arrow
⇓	`&dArr;`	`⇓`	Down double arrow
⇔	`⇔`	`⇔`	Left-right double arrow

Math Symbols

Mathematical operators and symbols for equations and formulas.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
±	`±`	`±`	Plus-minus
×	`×`	`×`	Multiplication sign
÷	`÷`	`÷`	Division sign
≤	`≤`	`≤`	Less than or equal
≥	`≥`	`≥`	Greater than or equal
≠	`≠`	`≠`	Not equal
≈	`≈`	`≈`	Approximately equal
∞	`∞`	`∞`	Infinity
∑	`∑`	`∑`	Summation
∏	`∏`	`∏`	Product
√	`√`	`√`	Square root
∫	`∫`	`∫`	Integral
∂	`∂`	`∂`	Partial derivative
∇	`∇`	`∇`	Nabla (gradient)
∈	`∈`	`∈`	Element of
∉	`∉`	`∉`	Not element of
∪	`∪`	`∪`	Union
∩	`∩`	`∩`	Intersection
∅	`∅`	`∅`	Empty set
∠	`&ang;`	`∠`	Angle
⊥	`&perp;`	`⊥`	Perpendicular

Currency

Currency symbols from around the world.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
€	`€`	`€`	Euro
£	`£`	`£`	Pound sterling
¥	`¥`	`¥`	Yen/Yuan
$	`&dollar;`	`$`	Dollar sign
¢	`¢`	`¢`	Cent sign
₹	`&inr;`	`₹`	Indian rupee
₽	`&ruble;`	`₽`	Russian ruble
₩	`&won;`	`₩`	Korean won
₪	`&shekel;`	`₪`	Israeli shekel
₫	`&dong;`	`₫`	Vietnamese dong

Greek Letters

Common Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and academic writing.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
α	`α`	`α`	Alpha (lowercase)
β	`β`	`β`	Beta (lowercase)
γ	`γ`	`γ`	Gamma (lowercase)
δ	`δ`	`δ`	Delta (lowercase)
ε	`ε`	`ε`	Epsilon (lowercase)
ζ	`ζ`	`ζ`	Zeta (lowercase)
η	`η`	`η`	Eta (lowercase)
θ	`θ`	`θ`	Theta (lowercase)
λ	`λ`	`λ`	Lambda (lowercase)
μ	`μ`	`μ`	Mu (lowercase)
π	`π`	`π`	Pi (lowercase)
σ	`σ`	`σ`	Sigma (lowercase)
τ	`τ`	`τ`	Tau (lowercase)
φ	`φ`	`φ`	Phi (lowercase)
ω	`ω`	`ω`	Omega (lowercase)
Α	`Α`	`Α`	Alpha (uppercase)
Β	`Β`	`Β`	Beta (uppercase)
Γ	`Γ`	`Γ`	Gamma (uppercase)
Δ	`Δ`	`Δ`	Delta (uppercase)
Θ	`Θ`	`Θ`	Theta (uppercase)
Λ	`Λ`	`Λ`	Lambda (uppercase)
Π	`Π`	`Π`	Pi (uppercase)
Σ	`Σ`	`Σ`	Sigma (uppercase)
Φ	`Φ`	`Φ`	Phi (uppercase)
Ω	`Ω`	`Ω`	Omega (uppercase)

Accented Characters

Latin characters with diacritical marks for international text.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
à	`à`	`à`	a with grave
á	`á`	`á`	a with acute
â	`â`	`â`	a with circumflex
ã	`ã`	`ã`	a with tilde
ä	`ä`	`ä`	a with diaeresis
å	`å`	`å`	a with ring
è	`è`	`è`	e with grave
é	`é`	`é`	e with acute
ê	`ê`	`ê`	e with circumflex
ë	`ë`	`ë`	e with diaeresis
ì	`ì`	`ì`	i with grave
í	`í`	`í`	i with acute
î	`î`	`î`	i with circumflex
ï	`ï`	`ï`	i with diaeresis
ò	`ò`	`ò`	o with grave
ó	`ó`	`ó`	o with acute
ô	`ô`	`ô`	o with circumflex
õ	`õ`	`õ`	o with tilde
ö	`ö`	`ö`	o with diaeresis
ù	`ù`	`ù`	u with grave
ú	`ú`	`ú`	u with acute
û	`û`	`û`	u with circumflex
ü	`ü`	`ü`	u with diaeresis
ñ	`ñ`	`ñ`	n with tilde
ç	`ç`	`ç`	c with cedilla
ß	`ß`	`ß`	German eszett

Special Characters

Miscellaneous useful characters for various purposes.

Character	Entity Name	Numeric Code	Description
♠	`&spades;`	`♠`	Spade suit
♣	`&clubs;`	`♣`	Club suit
♥	`&hearts;`	`♥`	Heart suit
♦	`&diams;`	`♦`	Diamond suit
★	`&starf;`	`★`	Black star
☆	`&star;`	`☆`	White star
✓	`&check;`	`✓`	Check mark
✗	`&cross;`	`✗`	Cross mark
☐	`&square;`	`☐`	Empty square
☑	`&checkmark;`	`☑`	Checked square
☒	`&crossmark;`	`☒`	Crossed square
→	`→`	`→`	Right arrow
←	`←`	`←`	Left arrow
↑	`↑`	`↑`	Up arrow
↓	`↓`	`↓`	Down arrow

Gotchas

Case sensitivity

Missing semicolon

Always end entities with semicolon. &copy won't render correctly.

Unicode vs Entities

Performance

Named entities are slightly larger than numeric ones. Use numeric for performance-critical content.

Accessibility

Screen readers handle entities well, but test with actual screen reader software.

Character encoding

Ensure your HTML declares UTF-8 encoding: <meta charset="utf-8">

Best Practice: Use entities for characters that have special meaning in HTML (<, >, &) and Unicode for everything else. This provides the best balance of readability and performance.