Reference

HTML Entity Reference

Every HTML named character reference in one searchable, copy-anything grid — all 2,125 semicolon entities, grouped by what they produce and collapsed into 1,511 distinct character cards so you see one tile per symbol instead of endless duplicate rows. Each card shows the glyph, its canonical name, the Unicode code point, and lets you copy the entity name, the literal character, or the decimal or hex numeric reference with one click. Aliases are folded into their character and the legacy no-semicolon forms are flagged, so the list stays clean. It is fully static and runs in your browser.

  • All 2,125 semicolon named entities, deduplicated to 1,511 character cards
  • Grouped by category: punctuation, currency, math, arrows, Greek, and more
  • Copy the name, the character, or the decimal or hex numeric reference
  • Aliases folded into one card; legacy no-semicolon forms flagged
  • Instant search by name, character, or code point
  • Fully static and offline — nothing is uploaded
1511 characters
Copy as
A dot marks entities that are also valid without the trailing semicolon (legacy).

Basic (ASCII)

35 Reserved characters and ASCII punctuation, including &, <, and >.

Punctuation & spaces

49 Dashes, quotes, bullets, spaces, and other general punctuation.

Currency

6 Currency symbols from the dollar to the euro and beyond.

Latin & accents

221 Accented Latin letters, ligatures, and Latin-1 symbols.

Diacritical marks

11 Standalone and combining accent marks.

Letterlike symbols

42 Trademark, copyright-style letters, and letterlike symbols.

Numbers & fractions

12 Vulgar fractions, Roman numerals, and number forms.

Greek

59 Greek letters used in math, science, and typography.

Cyrillic

92 Cyrillic letters covered by named references.

Arrows

177 Single, double, and long arrows in every direction.

Mathematical operators

543 Operators, relations, and other mathematical symbols.

Math alphanumeric

133 Script, fraktur, and double-struck math alphabets.

Geometric shapes

25 Squares, triangles, circles, and other geometric shapes.

Box drawing & blocks

46 Box-drawing lines and block elements.

Technical

39 Brackets, technical signs, and control pictures.

Miscellaneous symbols

21 Stars, suits, music notes, and other miscellaneous symbols.

Overview

A reference built for the way you actually look entities up: one tile per character, grouped by what it is, searchable by anything, and ready to copy in whichever form your code needs.

  1. 01

    One card per character

    The 2,125 semicolon entities are aggregated by the character they produce, so a symbol with several names appears once, not three or four times. The full list collapses to 1,511 clean tiles.

  2. 02

    Copy in four forms

    Pick a copy format once, then click any tile to copy the entity name, the literal character, or the decimal or hex numeric reference — no retyping &#xNNNN; by hand.

  3. 03

    Aliases kept together

    Alternate names for the same character — like rightarrow and RightArrow for the arrow — are folded onto its card and shown on hover, so you can pick the name you prefer.

  4. 04

    Legacy forms flagged

    The 106 entities that browsers also accept without a trailing semicolon are marked with a dot, so you know which references are safe to write the short way and which are not.

  5. 05

    Grouped by category

    Sixteen groups — punctuation, currency, math, arrows, Greek, geometric shapes, and more — let you browse by intent and filter the grid down to just the set you care about.

  6. 06

    Search by anything

    Type a name, paste the actual character, or enter a code point in decimal or hex, and the grid narrows instantly across every category.

  7. 07

    Code point and numeric refs

    Each tile shows the Unicode code point alongside the glyph, and the numeric references are always available even for characters that have no memorable name.

  8. 08

    Static and private

    The whole reference is generated at build time from the official WHATWG list and ships as static HTML, so it loads fast, works offline, and uploads nothing.

How to use

Browse by category or search, choose how you want to copy, and click a tile.

  1. 01

    Scroll the grid, which is grouped into categories from punctuation and currency to math and arrows.

  2. 02

    Use the category pills to filter down to a single group, or keep them all visible.

  3. 03

    Search by entity name, by pasting the character itself, or by a decimal or hex code point.

  4. 04

    Set the copy format — name, character, decimal, or hex — using the toggle.

  5. 05

    Click any tile to copy it in the chosen format; hover a tile to see its aliases and code point.

Details

A few notes on what the cards show and how the data is organized.

  • Only the canonical semicolon-terminated names are listed, since the no-semicolon forms are exact duplicates that browsers keep for legacy compatibility.
  • Characters are grouped by their Unicode block, so related symbols — arrows with arrows, Greek with Greek — sit together.
  • A dot on a tile means the entity is one of the 106 that also resolve without a trailing semicolon.
  • The number after a code point, like +3, shows how many additional aliases the character has.
  • Numeric references are shown in both decimal (©) and hexadecimal (©) form.
  • A handful of entities map to two code points; their tile shows both, joined.
  • Everything is rendered server-side, so search and copy work without loading a framework.

Use cases

Reaching for the right entity comes up constantly in markup, content, and documentation work.

  1. Escaping reserved characters

    Grab &, <, >, and " to safely show characters that would otherwise break HTML or be parsed as tags.

  2. Typographic punctuation

    Copy proper em dashes, en dashes, curly quotes, ellipses, and non-breaking spaces for clean, professional text.

  3. Math and science notation

    Find operators, relations, Greek letters, and arrows for formulas, specs, and technical writing without hunting through a character map.

  4. Currency and legal symbols

    Pull the euro, pound, yen, copyright, registered, and trademark symbols straight into prices, footers, and notices.

  5. Encoding-safe content

    Use numeric references for symbols so a page renders correctly even when its file encoding or pipeline is uncertain.

  6. Authoring documentation

    Drop arrows, checkmarks, bullets, and box-drawing characters into READMEs, docs, and diagrams.

  7. Looking up an unknown glyph

    Paste a character you copied from somewhere to find its entity name and code point in one step.

  8. Choosing between aliases

    See every named reference for a character together and pick the most readable one for your codebase.

See also

This is a lookup grid; to encode or decode entities across a whole block of text, the HTML Encoder and Decoder converts to and from HTML entities in bulk. To escape characters as code points instead, Unicode Converter handles Unicode escapes, and for the ASCII and Latin-1 code points behind these characters, ASCII Table lays out the full code table. For another quick lookup, HTTP Status Code Reference lists HTTP status codes.

Best practices

A few habits keep your markup correct and portable.

  • Always write entities with the trailing semicolon — the no-semicolon forms are legacy and only a small subset is recognized.
  • In HTML you only strictly need to escape &, <, and > (and quotes inside attributes); everything else is for convenience or encoding safety.
  • Prefer a memorable named entity for readability, and fall back to a numeric reference when no name exists.
  • Use a non-breaking space ( ) deliberately, not as a layout hammer — too many harm accessibility and reflow.
  • When you paste a character directly, make sure the document is served as UTF-8 so it survives; otherwise use the numeric reference.
  • Remember named entities are an HTML feature; in JSON, CSS, or JavaScript you need that language’s own escapes instead.

Limitations

A reference grid has a couple of edges worth knowing.

  • This lists characters, not arbitrary text — to convert a whole document, use the HTML encode/decode tool instead.
  • Only the semicolon names are shown; the 106 no-semicolon forms are flagged but not listed separately, because they are duplicates.
  • Named entities are specific to HTML and XML; they do not work in JSON, CSS, or plain JavaScript strings.
  • A glyph that renders blank — a space, a combining mark, or a control picture — still has a valid name and code point.
  • The character preview depends on your system fonts; a missing glyph means the font lacks it, not that the entity is wrong.
  • Aggregating by character means a few rare entities that produce identical output share a single tile.

FAQ

Common questions about HTML entities, the semicolon, numeric references, and how to use them.

What is an HTML entity?

An HTML entity, or named character reference, is a code like © that a browser renders as a specific character (© here). Entities let you write reserved characters such as &, <, and > safely, and produce symbols that may be hard to type or to store in a given file encoding.

How many HTML entities are there?

The official WHATWG list defines 2,231 named references. Of those, 2,125 end with a semicolon and 106 are legacy forms that also work without one. Because many names produce the same character, the semicolon names collapse to 1,511 distinct characters — which is what this grid shows.

Do I always need the trailing semicolon?

You should always include it. Only 106 legacy entities are recognized without a semicolon, and relying on that is fragile and can change a character that immediately follows. This grid marks those legacy entities with a dot, but writing the semicolon is always correct.

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

A named reference uses a word, like ♥, while a numeric reference uses the Unicode code point, in decimal (♥) or hex (♥). Numeric references work for every character, including those without a name, so they are the universal fallback.

Should I use an entity or just paste the character?

If your document is UTF-8, pasting the actual character is fine and often more readable. Use an entity for the reserved characters (&, <, >), for invisible characters like a non-breaking space, or when you cannot guarantee the encoding of the file.

Why do some characters have several names?

The standard defines aliases for convenience and for compatibility with other notations, so an arrow may be both → and →. This grid folds the aliases onto a single card so you can pick whichever name reads best.

Does this tool upload anything?

No. The entire reference is generated when the site is built and ships as static HTML, and search and copy run entirely in your browser, so nothing you type or copy leaves your device.

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