.
WebsiteDev / Named HTML Character References

Named Character Entity References

According to Section 24 of the HTML 4.01 Spec, “A character entity reference is an SGML construct that references a character of the document character set.” In other words, if you are writing a web page and want to use a character that you can’t easily type, or one of a set of few characters (e.g. “<”, “>”, “&”) that you should not enter because they are used in the HTML language, you can use one of these references to have that character displayed properly on your web page (so long as the font on the computer of whoever is viewing your page supports it).

The general form is “&reference;”, where reference is the (usually) shortened name of the character you want to display. For example, to display an ampersand, you type “&amp;” --- amp is the shortened name.

Alternately, you may use the numeric reference to specify any of these characters: “&#numeric;”, where numeric is the numeric reference shown for the desired character. For example, to display an ampersand, you type “&#38;".

HTML 4.01 provides three broad categories of character entity references:

According to Section A2 of the XHTML spec, “The XHTML entity sets are the same as for HTML 4, but have been modified to be valid XML 1.0 entity declarations.”

NOTE: To see these in a different font, append "?font=Font Name" to the URL for this page and reload it. For example, enter

    http://awcolley.com/WebsiteDev/HTMLNamedChar?font=Times New Roman

to see these characters displayed using the Times New Roman font.

NOTE: The “Displayed” column shows the symbol slightly larger than normal, to make it a little easier to see here. Also, it is displayed with a yellow background, so you can see how wide it is (especially for spaces).


There are two additional pages displaying these named entities in different order:

ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) Characters

NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
nbsp no-break / non-breaking space160U+00A0
iexcl¡inverted exclamation mark161U+00A1
cent¢cent sign162U+00A2
pound£pound sign163U+00A3
curren¤currency sign164U+00A4
yen¥yen / yuan sign165U+00A5
brvbar¦broken bar / vertical bar166U+00A6
sect§section sign167U+00A7
uml¨diaeresis / spacing diaeresis168U+00A8
copy©copyright sign169U+00A9
ordfªfeminine ordinal indicator170U+00AA
laquo«left double angle quotation mark / guillemet171U+00AB
not¬not sign172U+00AC
shy­soft / discretionary hyphen173U+00AD
reg®registered sign / trade mark sign174U+00AE
macr¯macron /spacing macron /overline / APL overbar175U+00AF
deg°degree sign176U+00B0
plusmn±plus-minus / plus-or-minus sign177U+00B1
sup2²superscript two / squared178U+00B2
sup3³superscript three / cubed179U+00B3
acute´acute accent / spacing acute180U+00B4
microµmicro sign181U+00B5
parapilcrow / paragraph sign182U+00B6
middot·middle dot / Georgian comma / Greek middle dot183U+00B7
cedil¸cedilla / spacing cedilla184U+00B8
sup1¹superscript one185U+00B9
ordmºmasculine ordinal indicator186U+00BA
raquo»right double angle quotation mark / guillemet187U+00BB
frac14¼(vulgar) fraction one quarter188U+00BC
frac12½(vulgar) fraction one half189U+00BD
frac34¾(vulgar) fraction three quarters190U+00BE
iquest¿inverted / turned question mark191U+00BF
AgraveÀlatin capital letter A with grave192U+00C0
AacuteÁlatin capital letter A with acute193U+00C1
AcircÂlatin capital letter A with circumflex194U+00C2
AtildeÃlatin capital letter A with tilde195U+00C3
AumlÄlatin capital letter A with diaeresis196U+00C4
AringÅlatin capital letter A with ring above197U+00C5
AEligÆlatin capital letter / ligature AE198U+00C6
CcedilÇlatin capital letter C with cedilla199U+00C7
EgraveÈlatin capital letter E with grave200U+00C8
EacuteÉlatin capital letter E with acute201U+00C9
EcircÊlatin capital letter E with circumflex202U+00CA
EumlËlatin capital letter E with diaeresis203U+00CB
IgraveÌlatin capital letter I with grave204U+00CC
IacuteÍlatin capital letter I with acute205U+00CD
IcircÎlatin capital letter I with circumflex206U+00CE
IumlÏlatin capital letter I with diaeresis207U+00CF
ETHÐlatin capital letter ETH208U+00D0
NtildeÑlatin capital letter N with tilde209U+00D1
OgraveÒlatin capital letter O with grave210U+00D2
OacuteÓlatin capital letter O with acute211U+00D3
OcircÔlatin capital letter O with circumflex212U+00D4
OtildeÕlatin capital letter O with tilde213U+00D5
OumlÖlatin capital letter O with diaeresis214U+00D6
times×multiplication sign215U+00D7
OslashØlatin capital letter O with stroke / slash216U+00D8
UgraveÙlatin capital letter U with grave217U+00D9
UacuteÚlatin capital letter U with acute218U+00DA
UcircÛlatin capital letter U with circumflex219U+00DB
UumlÜlatin capital letter U with diaeresis220U+00DC
YacuteÝlatin capital letter Y with acute221U+00DD
THORNÞlatin capital letter THORN222U+00DE
szligßlatin small letter sharp s / ess-zed223U+00DF
agraveàlatin small letter a with grave224U+00E0
aacuteálatin small letter a with acute225U+00E1
acircâlatin small letter a with circumflex226U+00E2
atildeãlatin small letter a with tilde227U+00E3
aumlälatin small letter a with diaeresis228U+00E4
aringålatin small letter a with ring above229U+00E5
aeligælatin small letter / ligature ae230U+00E6
ccedilçlatin small letter c with cedilla231U+00E7
egraveèlatin small letter e with grave232U+00E8
eacuteélatin small letter e with acute233U+00E9
ecircêlatin small letter e with circumflex234U+00EA
eumlëlatin small letter e with diaeresis235U+00EB
igraveìlatin small letter i with grave236U+00EC
iacuteílatin small letter i with acute237U+00ED
icircîlatin small letter i with circumflex238U+00EE
iumlïlatin small letter i with diaeresis239U+00EF
ethðlatin small letter eth240U+00F0
ntildeñlatin small letter n with tilde241U+00F1
ograveòlatin small letter o with grave242U+00F2
oacuteólatin small letter o with acute243U+00F3
ocircôlatin small letter o with circumflex244U+00F4
otildeõlatin small letter o with tilde245U+00F5
oumlölatin small letter o with diaeresis246U+00F6
divide÷division sign247U+00F7
oslashølatin small letter o with stroke / slash248U+00F8
ugraveùlatin small letter u with grave249U+00F9
uacuteúlatin small letter u with acute250U+00FA
ucircûlatin small letter u with circumflex251U+00FB
uumlülatin small letter u with diaeresis252U+00FC
yacuteýlatin small letter y with acute253U+00FD
thornþlatin small letter thorn254U+00FE
yumlÿlatin small letter y with diaeresis255U+00FF

Symbols, Mathematical Symbols, and Greek Letters

Latin Extended-B
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
fnofƒlatin small f with hook / function / florin402U+0192
Greek
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
AlphaΑgreek capital letter alpha913U+0391
BetaΒgreek capital letter beta914U+0392
GammaΓgreek capital letter gamma915U+0393
DeltaΔgreek capital letter delta916U+0394
EpsilonΕgreek capital letter epsilon917U+0395
ZetaΖgreek capital letter zeta918U+0396
EtaΗgreek capital letter eta919U+0397
ThetaΘgreek capital letter theta920U+0398
IotaΙgreek capital letter iota921U+0399
KappaΚgreek capital letter kappa922U+039A
LambdaΛgreek capital letter lambda923U+039B
MuΜgreek capital letter mu924U+039C
NuΝgreek capital letter nu925U+039D
XiΞgreek capital letter xi926U+039E
OmicronΟgreek capital letter omicron927U+039F
PiΠgreek capital letter pi928U+03A0
RhoΡgreek capital letter rho929U+03A1
SigmaΣgreek capital letter sigma1931U+03A3
TauΤgreek capital letter tau932U+03A4
UpsilonΥgreek capital letter upsilon933U+03A5
PhiΦgreek capital letter phi934U+03A6
ChiΧgreek capital letter chi935U+03A7
PsiΨgreek capital letter psi936U+03A8
OmegaΩgreek capital letter omega937U+03A9
alphaαgreek small letter alpha945U+03B1
betaβgreek small letter beta946U+03B2
gammaγgreek small letter gamma947U+03B3
deltaδgreek small letter delta948U+03B4
epsilonεgreek small letter epsilon949U+03B5
zetaζgreek small letter zeta950U+03B6
etaηgreek small letter eta951U+03B7
thetaθgreek small letter theta952U+03B8
iotaιgreek small letter iota953U+03B9
kappaκgreek small letter kappa954U+03BA
lambdaλgreek small letter lambda955U+03BB
muμgreek small letter mu956U+03BC
nuνgreek small letter nu957U+03BD
xiξgreek small letter xi958U+03BE
omicronοgreek small letter omicron959U+03BF
piπgreek small letter pi960U+03C0
rhoρgreek small letter rho961U+03C1
sigmafςgreek small letter final sigma962U+03C2
sigmaσgreek small letter sigma963U+03C3
tauτgreek small letter tau964U+03C4
upsilonυgreek small letter upsilon965U+03C5
phiφgreek small letter phi966U+03C6
chiχgreek small letter chi967U+03C7
psiψgreek small letter psi968U+03C8
omegaωgreek small letter omega969U+03C9
thetasymϑgreek small letter theta symbol977U+03D1
upsihϒgreek upsilon with hook symbol978U+03D2
pivϖgreek pi symbol982U+03D6
1 there is no Sigmaf and no U+03A2 character either
General Punctuation
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
bullbullet / black small circle18226U+2022
helliphorizontal ellipsis / three dot leader8230U+2026
primeprime / minutes / feet8242U+2032
Primedouble prime / seconds / inches8243U+2033
olineoverline / spacing overscore8254U+203E
fraslfraction slash8260U+2044
1 bull is NOT the same as bullet operator, U+2219
Letterlike Symbols
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
weierpscript capital P / power set / Weierstrass p8472U+2118
imageblackletter capital I / imaginary part8465U+2111
realblackletter capital R / real part symbol8476U+211C
tradetrade mark sign8482U+2122
alefsymalef symbol / first transfinite cardinal18501U+2135
1 alefsym is NOT the same as hebrew letter alef, U+05D0, although the same glyph could be used to depict both characters
Arrows
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
larrleftwards arrow8592U+2190
uarrupwards arrow8593U+2191
rarrrightwards arrow8594U+2192
darrdownwards arrow8595U+2193
harrleft right arrow8596U+2194
crarrleft corner down arrow / carriage return8629U+21B5
lArrleftwards double arrow18656U+21D0
uArrupwards double arrow8657U+21D1
rArrrightwards double arrow28658U+21D2
dArrdownwards double arrow8659U+21D3
hArrleft right double arrow8660U+21D4
1 ISO 10646 does not say that lArr is the same as the “is implied by” arrow but also does not have any other character for that function.
2 ISO 10646 does not say that rArr is the same as the “implies” character but does not have another character with this function.
Mathematical Operators
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
forallfor all8704U+2200
partpartial differential8706U+2202
existthere exists8707U+2203
emptyempty set / null set / diameter8709U+2205
nablanabla / backward difference8711U+2207
isinelement of8712U+2208
notinnot an element of8713U+2209
nicontains as member8715U+220B
prodn-ary product / product sign18719U+220F
sumn-ary sumation28721U+2211
minusminus sign8722U+2212
lowastasterisk operator8727U+2217
radicsquare root / radical sign8730U+221A
propproportional to8733U+221D
infininfinity8734U+221E
angangle8736U+2220
andlogical and / wedge8743U+2227
orlogical or / vee8744U+2228
capintersection / cap8745U+2229
cupunion / cup8746U+222A
intintegral8747U+222B
there4therefore8756U+2234
simtilde operator / varies with / similar to38764U+223C
congapproximately equal to8773U+2245
asympalmost equal to / asymptotic to8776U+2248
nenot equal to8800U+2260
equividentical to8801U+2261
leless-than or equal to8804U+2264
gegreater-than or equal to8805U+2265
subsubset of8834U+2282
supsuperset of48835U+2283
nsubnot a subset of8836U+2284
subesubset of or equal to8838U+2286
supesuperset of or equal to8839U+2287
opluscircled plus / direct sum8853U+2295
otimescircled times / vector product8855U+2297
perpup tack / orthogonal to / perpendicular8869U+22A5
sdotdot operator58901U+22C5
1 prod is NOT the same character as U+03A0 “greek capital letter pi” though the same glyph might be used for both
2 sum is NOT the same character as U+03A3 “greek capital letter sigma” though the same glyph might be used for both
3 sim is NOT the same character as the tilde U+007E, although the same glyph might be used to represent both
4 note that nsup, “not a superset of” U+2283, is not covered by the Symbol font encoding and is not included
5 sdot is NOT the same character as U+00B7 “middle dot”
Miscellaneous Technical
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
lceilleft ceiling / apl upstile8968U+2308
rceilright ceiling8969U+2309
lfloorleft floor / apl downstile8970U+230A
rfloorright floor8971U+230B
langleft-pointing angle bracket19001U+2329
rangright-pointing angle bracket29002U+232A
1 lang is NOT the same character as U+003C “less than” or U+2039 “single left-pointing angle quotation mark”
2 rang is NOT the same character as U+003E “greater than” or U+203A “single right-pointing angle quotation mark”
Geometric Shapes
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
lozlozenge9674U+25CA
Miscellaneous Symbols
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
spadesblack spade suit9824U+2660
clubsblack club suit / shamrock9827U+2663
heartsblack heart suit / valentine9829U+2665
diamsblack diamond suit9830U+2666
Note: “black” here seems to mean filled as opposed to hollow

Markup-significant and Internationalization Characters

C0 Controls and Basic Latin
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
quot"quotation mark34U+0022
amp&ampersand38U+0026
lt<less-than sign60U+003C
gt>greater-than sign62U+003E
Latin Extended-A
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
OEligŒlatin capital ligature OE338U+0152
oeligœlatin small ligature1 oe339U+0153
ScaronŠlatin capital letter S with caron352U+0160
scaronšlatin small letter s with caron353U+0161
YumlŸlatin capital letter Y with diaeresis376U+0178
1ligature is a misnomer, this is a separate character in some languages
Spacing Modifier Letters
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
circˆmodifier letter circumflex accent710U+02C6
tilde˜small tilde732U+02DC
General Punctuation
NameSampleDescriptionNumeric ReferenceISO Number
enspen space8194U+2002
emspem space8195U+2003
thinspthin space8201U+2009
zwnjzero width non-joiner8204U+200C
zwjzero width joiner8205U+200D
lrmleft-to-right mark8206U+200E
rlmright-to-left mark8207U+200F
ndashen dash8211U+2013
mdashem dash8212U+2014
lsquoleft single quotation mark8216U+2018
rsquoright single quotation mark8217U+2019
sbquosingle low-9 quotation mark8218U+201A
ldquoleft double quotation mark8220U+201C
rdquoright double quotation mark8221U+201D
bdquodouble low-9 quotation mark8222U+201E
daggerdagger8224U+2020
Daggerdouble dagger8225U+2021
permilper mille sign8240U+2030
lsaquosingle left-pointing angle quotation mark18249U+2039
rsaquosingle right-pointing angle quotation mark28250U+203A
euroeuro sign8364U+20AC
1 lsaquo is proposed but not yet ISO standardized
2 rsaquo is proposed but not yet ISO standardized


There are severe limits to the good that the government can do for the economy, but there are almost no limits to the harm it can do.

Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate

A2 Web Hosting
Creative Commons License
Get your Domain at GoDaddy.com
search engine by freefind advanced

loaded 2025-05-20 16:00:14 • last modified 2010-02-18 19:10:32
Privacy PolicyDisclaimer
• awcolley.com is powered by PmWiki
• all content (unless otherwise noted) © 2025 A W Colley