Representing Characters in HTML

Numeric Character References (NCRs), Character Entity References

There are several ways to represent a character in HTML, some right, some wrong. Here is some guidance and tables showing how characters can be represented.

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Direct Character Entry

Of course, you can enter the character directly as a binary value using the character encoding of the file. For example, if you type the letter "a", the binary value 9710 (6116) is entered into the editor's buffer (assuming an ASCII-based character encoding).

Numeric Character Reference (NCR)

You can also represent a character using a Numeric Character Reference, of the form &#dddd;, where dddd is the decimal value representing the character's Unicode scalar value. You can alternatively use a hexadecimal representation &#xhhhh;, where hhhh is the hexadecimal value equivalent to the decimal value. For example, the character Yen, has a decimal value of 165 in Unicode, a hexadecimal value of A5, and can therefore be represented as ¥ or ¥.

For the values 160-25510, the Unicode scalar values are identical to the code points for the same characters in ISO 8859-1 and Windows-1252. However, it is important to remember, that the Numeric Character References are defined in terms of Unicode and not any other character encoding.

In the code point range 128-15910, Windows-1252 assigns characters, whereas ISO-8859-1 assigns control codes. Unicode assigns the same control codes to that range. The characters in that range in Windows-1252 have very different code points in Unicode.

For example, the character for the euro currency symbol (€) has the code point 12810 (8016) in the Windows-1252 code page. In Unicode, the euro is represented by the Unicode scalar value 20AC16.

Review the Table 128-159 below to see the characters in Windows-1252 that are affected and require values in Numeric Character References that are different from their Windows-1252 code points.

Character Entity References

HTML also defines Character Entity References, i.e. short length text names that can be used to identify a character. For example, to identify the Yen character, you can use ¥. The names are listed below. To use the name as a Character Entity Reference, prepend the ampersand "&" and append the semi-colon ";". The euro can be represented by €.

Index of tables
Table Special This table lists characters that are significant to the syntax of HTML or are useful to control Unicode text. The columns are: the name used in Character Entity Reference, the decimal Numeric Character Reference, the character glyph, and the character description.
Table 128-159 This table lists the names used in Character Entity References, the decimal Numeric Character Reference, depicts the character, and describes the character, for each character in the range 128-159.
Table 160-255 (A0-FF16) This table lists the names used in Character Entity References, the decimal Numeric Character Reference, the hexadecimal Numerical Character Reference depicts the character, and describes the character, for each character in the range 160-25510 (A0-FF16).
Table Other This table lists the remaining characters that have Character Entity References defined in HTML 4. The columns are: the name used in Character Entity Reference, the decimal Numeric Character Reference, the character glyph, and the character description.

Table Special
These characters are significant to HTML syntax or to Unicode.
Entity Character Reference	(decimal) Numeric Character Reference	Character Name
"	"	quotation mark = APL quote
&	&	ampersand
<	<	less-than sign
>	>	greater-than sign
&ensp;		en space
&emsp;		em space
		thin space
&zwnj;	‌	zero width non-joiner
&zwj;	‍	zero width joiner
&lrm;	‎	left-to-right mark
&rlm;	‏	right-to-left mark

Table 128-159
The Unicode based NCRs and Character Entity References are given for the characters in the range 128-159 in Windows 1252.
Windows cp1252 code point	(Decimal) Numeric Character Reference	Character	Character Entity Reference or hex NCR	Character Name
128	€	€	€	EURO SIGN
129				unassigned
130	‚	‚	&sbquo;	SINGLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK
131	ƒ	ƒ	ƒ	LATIN SMALL LETTER F WITH HOOK
132	„	„	&bdquo;	DOUBLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK
133	…	…	…	HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
134	†	†	&dagger;	DAGGER
135	‡	‡	&Dagger;	DOUBLE DAGGER
136	ˆ	ˆ	&circ;	MODIFIER LETTER CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT
137	‰	‰	&permil;	PER MILLE SIGN
138	Š	Š	&Scaron;	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S WITH CARON
139	‹	‹	&lsaquo;	SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
140	Œ	Œ	&OElig;	LATIN CAPITAL LIGATURE OE
141				unassigned
142	Ž	Ž	Ž	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH CARON
143				unassigned
144				unassigned
145	‘	‘	‘	LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
146	’	’	’	RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK
147	“	“	“	LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
148	”	”	”	RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK
149	•	•	•	BULLET
150	–	–	–	EN DASH
151	—	—	—	EM DASH
152	˜	˜	&tilde;	SMALL TILDE
153	™	™	™	TRADE MARK SIGN
154	š	š	&scaron;	LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CARON
155	›	›	&rsaquo;	SINGLE RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
156	œ	œ	&oelig;	LATIN SMALL LIGATURE OE
158	ž	ž	ž	LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH CARON
159	Ÿ	Ÿ	&Yuml;	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y WITH DIAERESIS

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Table 160-255
These are the characters in the range 160-25510 (A0-FF16).
Character Entity Reference	(Decimal) Numeric Character Reference	(Hexadecimal) Numeric Character Reference	Character	Character Name
nbsp				no-break space
iexcl	¡	¡	¡	inverted exclamation mark
cent	¢	¢	¢	cent sign
pound	£	£	£	pound sterling sign
curren	¤	¤	¤	general currency sign
yen	¥	¥	¥	yen sign
brvbar	¦	¦	¦	broken (vertical) bar
sect	§	§	§	section sign
uml	¨	¨	¨	umlaut (dieresis)
copy	©	©	©	copyright sign
ordf	ª	ª	ª	ordinal indicator, feminine
laquo	«	«	«	angle quotation mark, left
not	¬	¬	¬	not sign
shy				soft hyphen
reg	®	®	®	registered sign
macr	¯	¯	¯	macron
deg	°	°	°	degree sign
plusmn	±	±	±	plus-or-minus sign
sup2	²	²	²	superscript two
sup3	³	³	³	superscript three
acute	´	´	´	acute accent
micro	µ	µ	µ	micro sign
para	¶	¶	¶	pilcrow (paragraph sign)
middot	·	·	·	middle dot
cedil	¸	¸	¸	cedilla
sup1	¹	¹	¹	superscript one
ordm	º	º	º	ordinal indicator, masculine
raquo	»	»	»	angle quotation mark, right
frac14	¼	¼	¼	fraction one-quarter
frac12	½	½	½	fraction one-half
frac34	¾	¾	¾	fraction three-quarters
iquest	¿	¿	¿	inverted question mark
Agrave	À	À	À	capital A, grave accent
Aacute	Á	Á	Á	capital A, acute accent
Acirc	Â	Â	Â	capital A, circumflex accent
Atilde	Ã	Ã	Ã	capital A, tilde
Auml	Ä	Ä	Ä	capital A, dieresis or umlaut mark
Aring	Å	Å	Å	capital A, ring
AElig	Æ	Æ	Æ	capital AE diphthong (ligature)
Ccedil	Ç	Ç	Ç	capital C, cedilla
Egrave	È	È	È	capital E, grave accent
Eacute	É	É	É	capital E, acute accent
Ecirc	Ê	Ê	Ê	capital E, circumflex accent
Euml	Ë	Ë	Ë	capital E, dieresis or umlaut mark
Igrave	Ì	Ì	Ì	capital I, grave accent
Iacute	Í	Í	Í	capital I, acute accent
Icirc	Î	Î	Î	capital I, circumflex accent
Iuml	Ï	Ï	Ï	capital I, dieresis or umlaut mark
ETH	Ð	Ð	Ð	capital Eth, Icelandic
Ntilde	Ñ	Ñ	Ñ	capital N, tilde
Ograve	Ò	Ò	Ò	capital O, grave accent
Oacute	Ó	Ó	Ó	capital O, acute accent
Ocirc	Ô	Ô	Ô	capital O, circumflex accent
Otilde	Õ	Õ	Õ	capital O, tilde
Ouml	Ö	Ö	Ö	capital O, dieresis or umlaut mark
times	×	×	×	multiply sign
Oslash	Ø	Ø	Ø	capital O, slash
Ugrave	Ù	Ù	Ù	capital U, grave accent
Uacute	Ú	Ú	Ú	capital U, acute accent
Ucirc	Û	Û	Û	capital U, circumflex accent
Uuml	Ü	Ü	Ü	capital U, dieresis or umlaut mark
Yacute	Ý	Ý	Ý	capital Y, acute accent
THORN	Þ	Þ	Þ	capital THORN, Icelandic
szlig	ß	ß	ß	small sharp s, German (sz ligature)
agrave	à	à	à	small a, grave accent
aacute	á	á	á	small a, acute accent
acirc	â	â	â	small a, circumflex accent
atilde	ã	ã	ã	small a, tilde
auml	ä	ä	ä	small a, dieresis or umlaut mark
aring	å	å	å	small a, ring
aelig	æ	æ	æ	small ae diphthong (ligature)
ccedil	ç	ç	ç	small c, cedilla
egrave	è	è	è	small e, grave accent
eacute	é	é	é	small e, acute accent
ecirc	ê	ê	ê	small e, circumflex accent
euml	ë	ë	ë	small e, dieresis or umlaut mark
igrave	ì	ì	ì	small i, grave accent
iacute	í	í	í	small i, acute accent
icirc	î	î	î	small i, circumflex accent
iuml	ï	ï	ï	small i, dieresis or umlaut mark
eth	ð	ð	ð	small eth, Icelandic
ntilde	ñ	ñ	ñ	small n, tilde
ograve	ò	ò	ò	small o, grave accent
oacute	ó	ó	ó	small o, acute accent
ocirc	ô	ô	ô	small o, circumflex accent
otilde	õ	õ	õ	small o, tilde
ouml	ö	ö	ö	small o, dieresis or umlaut mark
divide	÷	÷	÷	divide sign
oslash	ø	ø	ø	small o, slash
ugrave	ù	ù	ù	small u, grave accent
uacute	ú	ú	ú	small u, acute accent
ucirc	û	û	û	small u, circumflex accent
uuml	ü	ü	ü	small u, dieresis or umlaut mark
yacute	ý	ý	ý	small y, acute accent
thorn	þ	þ	þ	small thorn, Icelandic
yuml	ÿ	ÿ	ÿ	small y, dieresis or umlaut mark

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Table Other
These are the remaining characters with Character Entity References defined in HTML 4.
Character Entity Reference	(Decimal) Numeric Character Reference	Character	Character Name
fnof	ƒ	ƒ	latin small f with hook, U+0192 (also used to represent the former Dutch currency Florin, Guilder or Gulden)
Alpha	Α	Α	greek capital letter alpha, U+0391
Beta	Β	Β	greek capital letter beta, U+0392
Gamma	Γ	Γ	greek capital letter gamma, U+0393
Delta	Δ	Δ	greek capital letter delta, U+0394
Epsilon	Ε	Ε	greek capital letter epsilon, U+0395
Zeta	Ζ	Ζ	greek capital letter zeta, U+0396
Eta	Η	Η	greek capital letter eta, U+0397
Theta	Θ	Θ	greek capital letter theta, U+0398
Iota	Ι	Ι	greek capital letter iota, U+0399
Kappa	Κ	Κ	greek capital letter kappa, U+039A
Lambda	Λ	Λ	greek capital letter lambda, U+039B
Mu	Μ	Μ	greek capital letter mu, U+039C
Nu	Ν	Ν	greek capital letter nu, U+039D
Xi	Ξ	Ξ	greek capital letter xi, U+039E
Omicron	Ο	Ο	greek capital letter omicron, U+039F
Pi	Π	Π	greek capital letter pi, U+03A0
Rho	Ρ	Ρ	greek capital letter rho, U+03A1
Sigma	Σ	Σ	greek capital letter sigma, U+03A3
Tau	Τ	Τ	greek capital letter tau, U+03A4
Upsilon	Υ	Υ	greek capital letter upsilon, U+03A5
Phi	Φ	Φ	greek capital letter phi, U+03A6
Chi	Χ	Χ	greek capital letter chi, U+03A7
Psi	Ψ	Ψ	greek capital letter psi, U+03A8
Omega	Ω	Ω	greek capital letter omega, U+03A9
alpha	α	α	greek small letter alpha, U+03B1
beta	β	β	greek small letter beta, U+03B2
gamma	γ	γ	greek small letter gamma, U+03B3
delta	δ	δ	greek small letter delta, U+03B4
epsilon	ε	ε	greek small letter epsilon, U+03B5
zeta	ζ	ζ	greek small letter zeta, U+03B6
eta	η	η	greek small letter eta, U+03B7
theta	θ	θ	greek small letter theta, U+03B8
iota	ι	ι	greek small letter iota, U+03B9
kappa	κ	κ	greek small letter kappa, U+03BA
lambda	λ	λ	greek small letter lambda, U+03BB
mu	μ	μ	greek small letter mu, U+03BC
nu	ν	ν	greek small letter nu, U+03BD
xi	ξ	ξ	greek small letter xi, U+03BE
omicron	ο	ο	greek small letter omicron, U+03BF
pi	π	π	greek small letter pi, U+03C0
rho	ρ	ρ	greek small letter rho, U+03C1
sigmaf	ς	ς	greek small letter final sigma, U+03C2
sigma	σ	σ	greek small letter sigma, U+03C3
tau	τ	τ	greek small letter tau, U+03C4
upsilon	υ	υ	greek small letter upsilon, U+03C5
phi	φ	φ	greek small letter phi, U+03C6
chi	χ	χ	greek small letter chi, U+03C7
psi	ψ	ψ	greek small letter psi, U+03C8
omega	ω	ω	greek small letter omega, U+03C9
thetasym	ϑ	ϑ	greek small letter theta symbol, U+03D1
upsih	ϒ	ϒ	greek upsilon with hook symbol, U+03D2
piv	ϖ	ϖ	greek pi symbol, U+03D6
bull	•	•	bullet = black small circle, U+2022
hellip	…	…	horizontal ellipsis = three dot leader, U+2026
prime	′	′	prime = minutes = feet, U+2032
Prime	″	″	double prime = seconds = inches, U+2033
oline	‾	‾	overline = spacing overscore, U+203E
frasl	⁄	⁄	fraction slash, U+2044
weierp	℘	℘	script capital P = power set = Weierstrass p, U+2118
image	ℑ	ℑ	blackletter capital I = imaginary part, U+2111
real	ℜ	ℜ	blackletter capital R = real part symbol, U+211C
trade	™	™	trade mark sign, U+2122
alefsym	ℵ	ℵ	alef symbol = first transfinite cardinal, U+2135
larr	←	←	leftwards arrow, U+2190
uarr	↑	↑	upwards arrow, U+2191
rarr	→	→	rightwards arrow, U+2192
darr	↓	↓	downwards arrow, U+2193
harr	↔	↔	left right arrow, U+2194
crarr	↵	↵	downwards arrow with corner leftwards = carriage return, U+21B5
lArr	⇐	⇐	leftwards double arrow, U+21D0
uArr	⇑	⇑	upwards double arrow, U+21D1
rArr	⇒	⇒	rightwards double arrow, U+21D2
dArr	⇓	⇓	downwards double arrow, U+21D3
hArr	⇔	⇔	left right double arrow, U+21D4
forall	∀	∀	for all, U+2200
part	∂	∂	partial differential, U+2202
exist	∃	∃	there exists, U+2203
empty	∅	∅	empty set = null set = diameter, U+2205
nabla	∇	∇	nabla = backward difference, U+2207
isin	∈	∈	element of, U+2208
notin	∉	∉	not an element of, U+2209
ni	∋	∋	contains as member, U+220B
prod	∏	∏	n-ary product = product sign, U+220F
sum	∑	∑	n-ary sumation, U+2211
minus	−	−	minus sign, U+2212
lowast	∗	∗	asterisk operator, U+2217
radic	√	√	square root = radical sign, U+221A
prop	∝	∝	proportional to, U+221D
infin	∞	∞	infinity, U+221E
ang	∠	∠	angle, U+2220
and	∧	∧	logical and = wedge, U+2227
or	∨	∨	logical or = vee, U+2228
cap	∩	∩	intersection = cap, U+2229
cup	∪	∪	union = cup, U+222A
int	∫	∫	integral, U+222B
there4	∴	∴	therefore, U+2234
sim	∼	∼	tilde operator = varies with = similar to, U+223C
cong	≅	≅	approximately equal to, U+2245
asymp	≈	≈	almost equal to = asymptotic to, U+2248
ne	≠	≠	not equal to, U+2260
equiv	≡	≡	identical to, U+2261
le	≤	≤	less-than or equal to, U+2264
ge	≥	≥	greater-than or equal to, U+2265
sub	⊂	⊂	subset of, U+2282
sup	⊃	⊃	superset of, U+2283
nsub	⊄	⊄	not a subset of, U+2284
sube	⊆	⊆	subset of or equal to, U+2286
supe	⊇	⊇	superset of or equal to, U+2287
oplus	⊕	⊕	circled plus = direct sum, U+2295
otimes	⊗	⊗	circled times = vector product, U+2297
perp	⊥	⊥	up tack = orthogonal to = perpendicular, U+22A5
sdot	⋅	⋅	dot operator, U+22C5
lceil	⌈	⌈	left ceiling = apl upstile, U+2308
rceil	⌉	⌉	right ceiling, U+2309
lfloor	⌊	⌊	left floor = apl downstile, U+230A
rfloor	⌋	⌋	right floor, U+230B
lang	〈	〈	left-pointing angle bracket = bra, U+2329
rang	〉	〉	right-pointing angle bracket = ket, U+232A
loz	◊	◊	lozenge, U+25CA
spades	♠	♠	black spade suit, U+2660
clubs	♣	♣	black club suit = shamrock, U+2663
hearts	♥	♥	black heart suit = valentine, U+2665
diams	♦	♦	black diamond suit, U+2666

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