When should I use an HTML entity instead of the character itself?

Use entities for characters that have special meaning in HTML, namely ampersand, less-than, greater-than, and quotes. For other symbols, modern UTF-8 pages can use the literal character directly, but entities remain safe across encodings.

What is the difference between named and numeric entities?

A named entity like ampersand amp is easier to read, while a numeric reference like decimal 38 or hex 26 works for any Unicode code point even when no name exists. Numeric references are the most portable option.

Why do I need to escape the ampersand character?

Because the ampersand starts every entity, a literal ampersand in text must be written as the entity amp; otherwise the browser may try to interpret what follows as an entity. The same applies to less-than and greater-than inside content.

Do entities work in attribute values?

Yes. Inside an attribute you should escape the quote character that delimits it and the ampersand. For example, a double-quoted attribute containing a double quote should use the quot entity.

Is the apostrophe entity safe to use everywhere?

The named apostrophe entity is part of HTML5 and works in browsers, but it is not defined in older HTML 4. For maximum compatibility in XML or legacy contexts, use the numeric reference for the apostrophe instead.

HTML Entity Reference

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Look up any HTML entity instantly

HTML reserves a handful of characters — the ampersand, angle brackets, and quotes — for its own syntax, so they must be written as entities to appear as literal text. Many other symbols, from currency signs to arrows to Greek letters, also have convenient named entities. This tool lets you search by name, description, or the character itself, then copy the exact code you need.

How it works

Every entity maps to a single Unicode code point. The tool shows three ways to write each one: the named form such as &, the decimal numeric reference such as &, and the hexadecimal numeric reference such as &. The numeric forms are derived directly from the code point — decimal is the code point as a base-10 number, hex is the same value in base 16. Named entities are easiest to read, but numeric references work for any character even when no name is defined.

Tips and examples

The four entities you must always escape in content are & for the ampersand, < for less-than, > for greater-than, and " for the double quote inside attributes. For everything else on a UTF-8 page you can usually type the literal character, but entities keep your markup readable and encoding-proof. Search for arrow, currency, or greek to browse families of symbols, or paste a character to find its codes. Copying and lookup both run entirely in your browser.