HTML Entities Reference

HTML entities (also called character entities or escape codes) let you display reserved characters, special symbols, and invisible characters in HTML documents. Whether you need to show a literal < without triggering a tag, display a copyright symbol, or include an arrow in your UI, this reference has the code.

Each table below lists the entity name, numeric code (decimal and hex), and the rendered character. Bookmark this page for quick lookup during frontend development.

Common Symbols

These are the most frequently used HTML entities. Every developer should know &, <, >, and   by heart.

Currency Symbols

Display currency signs from around the world. Note that some symbols (like the Bitcoin sign) may not render in older browsers without a numeric code.

Arrows

Arrow symbols for navigation, direction indicators, and UI elements. Both simple and double-lined variants are available.

Mathematical Operators & Symbols

Common math symbols for equations, comparisons, fractions, and logic. Use numeric codes for symbols without named entities.

Punctuation & Special Characters

Dashes, quotes, spaces, and other typographic characters for polished text.

Greek Letters (Common)

Frequently used Greek letters in math, science, and engineering contexts.

Common Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

Entities look simple, but a few recurring mistakes cause broken pages, escaped-looking text, and subtle layout bugs. Here are the five most common ones.

1. Forgetting to escape the ampersand itself

The & entity is special: because & starts every entity, a literal ampersand in your text (like AT&T or R&D) must be written as &. Otherwise the browser may try to parse &T or &D as an entity and render unexpected characters.

<!-- BUG: ambiguous, may render wrong -->
<p>Acme & Sons</p>

<!-- FIX: escape the ampersand -->
<p>Acme &amp; Sons</p>

2. Dropping the trailing semicolon

Writing &copy without the semicolon works in HTML5 in some contexts but is invalid in XHTML and risky inside attribute values. Always include the semicolon: ©. The same applies to numeric references — © is correct, &#169 is not.

3. Double-escaping entities

If your page shows < as literal text instead of a < character, the content was escaped twice — once by your template engine or framework (React, Vue, Handlebars escape by default), then again by you. Pick one layer: let the framework escape user input, and never feed already-escaped strings into dangerouslySetInnerHTML or innerHTML.

// BUG: React already escapes, so this renders "<" as text
<div>{'&lt;div&gt;'}</div>

// FIX: write the raw character — React escapes it safely
<div>{'<div>'}</div>

// BUG: double-escaping user input for innerHTML
el.innerHTML = escapeHtml(userInput).replace(/&/g, '&amp;');

4. Using   for layout spacing

Stacking   entities to indent or align text works visually but breaks on narrow screens and with different font metrics. A non-breaking space also stops text from wrapping, which can push layout unexpectedly. Use CSS margin, padding, or gap for spacing instead — reserve  for keeping two words on the same line (for example, "10 kg" or "Chapter 5").

5. Confusing decimal and hex numeric references

& (decimal) and & (hex) both render &, but they are not interchangeable digits. Writing 8 renders the character 8, not &. Check the prefix: #x means hexadecimal, plain # means decimal.