Do I need named entities, or are numeric entities fine?

Both work in all modern browsers. Named entities like & are more readable; numeric entities like & are more portable across encoding contexts.

Why use HTML entities at all?

Certain characters such as , and & have special meaning in HTML and must be escaped to display literally. Entities are also used for characters that are hard to type.

Is this a complete list of HTML entities?

This tool includes the ~500 most commonly used entities. The full HTML5 named character reference contains over 2,000 entries, many of which are rarely used in practice.

What is the difference between < and <?

Both represent the < character. < is the decimal numeric entity; < is the hexadecimal numeric entity. They are equivalent and interchangeable.

developer Free No signup

HTML Entities Reference

Searchable reference of HTML entities with named, numeric, and hex forms — click to copy.

Loading tool…

About this tool

Browse or search nearly 500 of the most-used HTML entities across categories: Basic, Currency, Mathematical, Greek, Arrows, Punctuation, Latin Extended, and Symbols. Each entry shows the rendered character alongside its named (&), numeric (<), and hex (<) forms. Click any form to copy it instantly. A quick-reference panel at the top highlights the most commonly used entities.

How to use

1 Step 1: Browse the 'Most Used' quick-reference panel for the most common entities.
2 Step 2: Use the search box to filter by entity name, character, or description.
3 Step 3: Click a category tab to browse all entities in that group.
4 Step 4: Click any entity form (named, numeric, or hex) to copy it to your clipboard.

About this tool

How to use

Frequently Asked Questions