Working with HTML Entities

HTML entities are special codes used to represent characters that have a specific meaning in HTML syntax or that cannot be directly typed into HTML code (such as symbols, non-ASCII characters, or reserved characters).

HTML entity references help ensure that your web pages display the intended characters without interfering with the HTML document structure.

Online References

• Named characters references ↗
• Characters references ↗

What Are HTML Entities?

HTML entities are text strings that begin with an ampersand (&) and end with a semicolon (;). They represent characters that are either difficult or impossible to type directly into HTML or have special meanings within the language. HTML entities can represent:

• Reserved characters: Such as <, >, &, which are used to define HTML syntax.
• Special symbols: Like copyright (©) or trademark (™).
• Non-ASCII characters: For characters not part of the standard ASCII set, such as accented characters (é, ñ) or non-Latin scripts.
• Invisible (whitespace) characters: For formatting purposes, like non-breaking spaces ( ).

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Types of HTML Entity Reference

HTML entities follow a specific structure:

Note

1. Named Entities: These have a descriptive name, e.g., & for the ampersand symbol (&).
2. Numeric Entities: These use either decimal or hexadecimal notation to represent a character, e.g., © for the copyright symbol or © in hexadecimal notation.

Examples:

• < → <
• > → >
• & → &
• " → "
• © → ©
• © → © (decimal)
• © → © (hexadecimal)

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How to Use HTML Entities

HTML entities can be used anywhere in the content of an HTML document. Here’s how to include them properly:

Basic Syntax:

<p>This is an example of using an entity: &lt;div&gt;Hello&lt;/div&gt;</p>

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In the example above:

• The <div> tags are replaced by <div> and </div> to avoid them being interpreted as HTML tags.

Named Entities:

<p>John &amp; Jane are friends.</p>

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• The & will display as an ampersand (&) in the rendered page.

Numeric Entities (Decimal and Hexadecimal):

<p>The copyright symbol is &#169; or &#xA9;.</p>

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• Both decimal (©) and hexadecimal (©) entities will display the copyright symbol (©).

Why Use HTML Entities?

Entities are primarily used to:

• Prevent HTML parsing conflicts: Characters like <, >, and & have specific functions in HTML and need to be represented as entities to avoid confusion.
• Display special symbols and characters: Some characters, such as the copyright symbol or accented characters, are not easily typed on a standard keyboard or may not be supported across all encodings.
• Improve compatibility: Ensuring your HTML content renders correctly across different devices, browsers, and platforms.