HTML Entities

An HTML Entity is a snippet of text that begins with an ampersand (&) and ends with a semicolon (;). Entities are frequently used to display reserved characters (which would otherwise be interpreted as HTML code) or invisible characters (like non-breaking spaces).

Why use HTML Entities?

There are several reasons to use HTML entities in your web pages:

1. Reserved Characters: Some characters are reserved in HTML. For example, you cannot use the less-than (<) or greater-than (>) signs directly in your text because the browser will mix them up with HTML tags. To display <p>, you must write <p>.
2. Invisible Characters: The most common invisible character entity is the non-breaking space ( ). Browsers normally truncate multiple spaces in HTML code into a single space, but you can force multiple spaces by using non-breaking space entities.
3. Special Symbols: Many mathematical, technical, and currency symbols (like ©, ™, €, £) are not present on a standard keyboard and can be inserted using entities.

Format

HTML entities can be written in three ways:

1. Entity Name: Easier to remember, but not all browsers support all entity names. Example: © for the copyright symbol.
2. Decimal Number: Supported universally. Uses the format &#[number];. Example: © for the copyright symbol.
3. Hexadecimal Number: Uses the format &#x[hex_number];. Example: © for the copyright symbol.

Common HTML Entities

Character	Description	Entity Name	Decimal
<	Less than	&lt;	&#60;
>	Greater than	&gt;	&#62;
&	Ampersand	&amp;	&#38;
"	Double quote	&quot;	&#34;
'	Single quote	&apos;	&#39;
	Non-breaking space	&nbsp;	&#160;