HTML Entities Reference
HTML entities let you display reserved and special characters. This table covers the most common named entities with their decimal/hex numeric forms and descriptions.
| Named | Decimal | Hex | Char | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| & | & | & | & | Ampersand; must be escaped in text/attributes |
| < | < | < | < | Less-than; start of a tag, must be escaped |
| > | > | > | > | Greater-than; end of a tag, must be escaped |
| " | " | " | " | Double quotation mark; escape in attribute values |
| ' | ' | ' | ' | Apostrophe; HTML5 ok, not in XML |
| |   |   | Non-breaking space | |
| © | © | © | © | Copyright symbol |
| ® | ® | ® | ® | Registered trademark |
| ™ | ™ | ™ | ™ | Trademark symbol |
| … | … | … | … | Horizontal ellipsis |
| — | — | — | — | Em dash |
| – | – | – | – | En dash |
| € | € | € | € | Euro sign |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | Pound sign |
| ¢ | ¢ | ¢ | ¢ | Cent sign |
| ¥ | ¥ | ¥ | ¥ | Yen / Yuan sign |
| × | × | × | × | Multiplication sign |
| ÷ | ÷ | ÷ | ÷ | Division sign |
| ± | ± | ± | ± | Plus-minus sign |
| ° | ° | ° | ° | Degree sign |
| § | § | § | § | Section sign |
| • | • | • | • | Bullet |
| · | · | · | · | Middle dot |
| « | « | « | « | Left-pointing double angle |
| » | » | » | » | Right-pointing double angle |
| ² | ² | ² | ² | Superscript two |
| ³ | ³ | ³ | ³ | Superscript three |
| ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | Vulgar fraction one half |
| ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | Infinity |
| ≠ | ≠ | ≠ | ≠ | Not equal to |
| ≤ | ≤ | ≤ | ≤ | Less-than or equal to |
| ≥ | ≥ | ≥ | ≥ | Greater-than or equal to |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use HTML entities?
In HTML, <, >, & and " are reserved characters that would be parsed as tags or entity syntax. Entities such as < let you display the character itself safely.
Named or numeric entities — which is better?
Named entities (e.g. ©) are readable but depend on the spec name table. Numeric entities (© / ©) reference Unicode code points directly, with broader compatibility and safer use in XML.
Do all characters need escaping?
No. Only the reserved characters (& < > " ') and quotes in attribute values need escaping; ordinary prose does not.
Does HTML5 support '?
HTML5 supports ' (apostrophe), but XML/XHTML 1.0 does not; use the numeric entity ' for cross-document safety.