HTML Entities

HTML entities are used to display special characters that can't be directly typed in HTML, such as <, >, or &.

What Are Entities?

Entities are the encoded forms of special characters. They usually start with an & and end with a semicolon, like & or <.

Common HTML Entities

Here are some commonly used entities that every developer should know:

• & → &
• < → <
• > → >
• " → "
• ' → '
•   → (non‑breaking space)
• © → ©
• ® → ®
• ™ → ™
• § → §
• • → •
• … → …
• — → —
• – → –
• · → ·
• « → «
• » → »
• ‰ → ‰
• µ → µ
• α → α
• β → β
• γ → γ
• π → π
• ω → ω
• ♥ → ♥
• ♠ → ♠
• ♣ → ♣
• ♦ → ♦
• ™ → ™
• → → →
• ← → ←
• ↑ → ↑
• ↓ → ↓

Usage Examples

The examples below demonstrate how entities appear in text and why they’re necessary for certain characters.

<p>This &amp; that</p>
<p>10 &lt; 20 &amp;&amp; 20 &gt; 10</p>
<p>&copy; 2025 All rights reserved.</p>

Numeric Entities

Some characters have no names but can be inserted using numeric codes. These usually start with &# and end with ;.

<p>This is the euro sign: &#8364;</p>
<p>This is the copyright sign: &#169;</p>

When to Use Entities?

Use HTML entities when a character conflicts with HTML syntax (e.g., <, >, &), or when displaying special symbols like currency or quotes.