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Lesson 73 +5 XP

HTML Entity Reference

Entities are codes for characters that are special in HTML or hard to type. They start with & and end with ;.

The big three you must know

EntityShowsWhy it matters
&lt;<Stops the browser thinking you wrote a tag.
&gt;>Same for the closing bracket.
&amp;&& starts every entity, so escape it!

html
<p>2 &lt; 3 and 5 &gt;

4. Tom &amp; Jerry.</p>

Punctuation and quotes

EntityShowsEntityShows
&quot;"&apos;'
&nbsp;space (never breaks)&ensp;wide space
&emsp;extra wide space&sect;§
&para;&middot;·
&hellip;…&ndash;-
&mdash; - &laquo;«

Currency symbols

EntityShowsEntityShows
&copy;©&reg;®
&trade;™&euro;€
&pound;£&yen;¥
&cent;¢&curren;¤

Math symbols

EntityShowsEntityShows
&sum;∑&radic;√
&infin;∞&plusmn;±
&minus;−&times;×
&divide;÷&equals;=
&ne;≠&le;≤
&ge;≥&asymp;≈
&deg;°&permil;‰
&micro;µ&frac14;¼

Greek letters

EntityShowsEntityShows
&alpha;α&beta;β
&gamma;γ&delta;δ
&theta;θ&lambda;λ
&pi;π&sigma;σ
&phi;φ&omega;ω
&Delta;Δ&Omega;Ω

Arrows

EntityShowsEntityShows
&larr;←&rarr;→
&uarr;↑&darr;↓
&harr;↔&crarr;↵
&rArr;⇒&lArr;⇐

Card suits and bullets

EntityShowsEntityShows
&spades;♠&clubs;♣
&hearts;♥&diams;♦
&bull;•&star;⋆

Number entities

Every character also has a number code. &#65; is the number 65, which is "A".


html
<p>&#65; is A, &#66; is B, &#128512; is an emoji.</p>

How to use entities

Just type them in your HTML text:


html
<p>I &hearts; HTML! &copy; 2026 My Site</p>

TL;DR

  • Entities start with & and end with ;.
  • Always escape <, >, and &: &lt;, &gt;, &amp;.
  • &copy;, &euro;, &pi;, &rarr; and friends type special symbols.
  • Number entities like &#65; use character numbers.
  • Use &nbsp; to keep words together.