HTML Character Codes

What this table shows

This is a browsable table for finding the HTML code of a character or symbol you want to put on a web page. For each character it shows the symbol itself, its HTML code, its Unicode value, and its escape sequence. It is organised so you can jump to groups of symbols, like currency signs and mathematical marks, which is usually how you arrive here: you know the symbol you want, and you need the code that produces it.

Why you use HTML codes for symbols

You might wonder why you would not just type a symbol like the copyright sign or an arrow straight into your page. Sometimes you can, but using its HTML code is the reliable way, and for good reason. A typed symbol depends on the page being set up to understand it and on your keyboard being able to produce it, and either can go wrong, leaving a broken box where the symbol should be. The HTML code sidesteps all of that. It spells the character out in plain, safe text that any page will render correctly, no matter its settings. These codes come in two styles: friendly named ones, like the code for a copyright sign that reads almost like the word, and numeric ones that give the character's number directly. This table gives you the code to copy, and your page shows the symbol.

How to use the table

Since there are a great many symbols, the table works in pages rather than showing everything at once. You can step through with the next and previous controls, or use the category shortcuts to jump straight to a family of symbols, currency, mathematics, and other common groups among them. When you find the character you want, its HTML code is right there beside it to copy into your markup, along with its Unicode value and escape sequence in case you need those forms instead.

Looking up a symbol versus encoding a text

It helps to know what this table is for and what it is not. This is for looking up the code of a single symbol you want to add to a page on purpose. It is the right tool when you think "I want a degree sign here, what is its code." That is a different job from taking a whole block of text and making it safe to drop into a page, where every special character needs converting at once. For that second job, the HTML Encode tool does the conversion in one go. So reach here to find one symbol's code, and reach for the encoder to make an entire piece of text page-safe.

Related tools and tables

To convert a whole piece of text into page-safe form, rather than look up one symbol, use the HTML Encode tool, with HTML Decode going back the other way. And to explore characters more broadly, well beyond the common symbols, the Unicode Character Table covers the wider world of scripts and signs that Unicode defines.

Questions people ask

How do I add a symbol like the copyright sign to my page?

Find it in the table and copy its HTML code into your markup where you want the symbol to appear. The page then renders the symbol, with no need to type the character directly.

What is the difference between a named and a numeric code?

They produce the same symbol. A named code reads like a short word and is easy to remember, while a numeric code gives the character's number. Either one works in your page.

Is this the same as the HTML Encode tool?

No. This finds the code for one symbol you want to add on purpose. The HTML Encode tool converts a whole block of text into page-safe form at once. Different jobs.

References

1. WHATWG. HTML Standard, Named character references. https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/named-characters.html
2. The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard. https://www.unicode.org/standard/standard.html