HTML Symbols

HTML Symbols

HTML entities was described in the previous chapter.
HTML symbols like mathematical operators, arrows, technical symbols and shapes, are not present on a normal keyboard.
To add these symbols to an HTML page, you can use the HTML entity name.
If no entity name exists, you can use the entity number.
If the character does not have an entity name, you can use a decimal (or hexadecimal) reference.

	If you use an HTML entity name, or number, the character will always display correctly. This is independent of what character set (encoding) your page uses!

Example

<p>I will display &euro;<p>
<p>I will display &#8364;<p>
<p>I will display &#x20AC;<p>

Will display as:

I will display €
I will display €
I will display €

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Some Mathematical Symbols Supported by HTML

Char	Number	Entity	Description
∀	∀	∀	FOR ALL
∂	∂	∂	PARTIAL DEFFERENCIAL
∃	∃	∃	THERE EXISTS
∅	∅	∅	EMPTY SETS
∇	∇	∇	NABLA
∈	∈	∈	ELEMENT OF
∉	∉	∉	NOT AN ELEMENT OF
∋	∋	∋	CONTAINS A MEMBER
∏	∏	∏	N-ARY PRODUCT
∑	∑	∑	N-ARY SUMMATION

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Some Greek Letters Supported by HTML

Char	Number	Entity	Description
Α	Α	Α	GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA
Β	Β	Β	GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA
Γ	Γ	Γ	GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA
Δ	Δ	Δ	GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA
Ε	Ε	Ε	GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON
Ζ	Ζ	Ζ	GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ZETA

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Some Other Entities Supported by HTML

Char	Number	Entity	Description
©	©	©	REGISTERED SIGN
®	®	®	REGISTERED SIGN
€	€	€	EURO SIGN
™	™	™	TRADEMARK
←	←	←	LEFTWARDS ARROW
↑	↑	↑	UPWARDS ARROW
→	→	→	RIGHTWARDS ARROW
↓	↓	↓	DOWNWARDS ARROW
♠	♠	♠	BLACK SPADE SUIT
♣	♣	♣	BLACK CLUB SUIT
♥	♥	♥	BLACK HEART SUIT
♦	♦	♦	BLACK DIAMOND SUIT

HTML Entities

Reserved characters in HTML must be replaced with character entities.

Characters, not present on your keyboard, can also be replaced by entities.

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HTML Entities

Some characters are reserved in HTML.
If you use the less than (<) or greater than (>) signs in your text, the browser might mix them with tags.
Character entities are used to display reserved characters in HTML.
A character entity looks like this:

&entity_name; OR
&#entity_number;

To display a less than sign we must write: &lt; or &#60;

	The advantage of using an entity name, instead of a number, is that the name is easier to remember. The disadvantage is that browsers may not support all entity names, but the support for numbers is good.

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Non Breaking Space

A common character entity used in HTML is the non breaking space (&nbsp;).
Remember that browsers will always truncate spaces in HTML pages. If you write 10 spaces in your text, the browser will remove 9 of them. To add real spaces to your text, you can use the &nbsp; character entity.

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Combining Diacritical Marks

A diacritical mark is a "glyph" added to a letter.
Some diacritical marks, like acute (  ̀) and grave (  ́) are called accents.
Diacritical marks can appear both above and below a letter, inside a letter, and between two letters.
Diacritical marks can be used in combination with alphanumeric characters, to produce a character that is not present in the character set (encoding) used in the page.
Here are some examples:

Mark	Character	Construct	Result
̀	a	à	à
́	a	á	á
̂	a	â	â
̃	a	ã	ã
̀	O	Ò	Ò
́	O	Ó	Ó
̂	O	Ô	Ô
̃	O	Õ	Õ

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Some Other Useful HTML Character Entities

	Entity names are case sensitive.

Result	Description	Entity Name	Entity Number
	non-breaking space	 	 
<	less than	&lt;	&#60;
>	greater than	&gt;	&#62;
&	ampersand	&amp;	&#38;
¢	cent	&cent;	&#162;
£	pound	&pound;	&#163;
¥	yen	&yen;	&#165;
€	euro	&euro;	&#8364;
©	copyright	&copy;	&#169;
®	registered trademark	&reg;	&#174;