HTML Entities Explained: When to Use & < © and Friends
Entities are how HTML safely represents special characters. This guide explains the most useful ones and when plain characters are fine.
What is the HTML Entity Lookup?
HTML entities let you write characters that have special meaning in markup, such as an ampersand or a less-than sign, without breaking the page. This tool looks a character or an entity name up in a built-in table of common entities and shows both forms. If the input is not in the table, it says so plainly instead of inventing an entity.
How to use it
- Type a single character, or an entity such as ©.
- Click Look up entity.
- Read the matching character and entity shown.
Worked example
Looking up the sample entity © returns the copyright character.
What entity do I use for an ampersand in HTML?
& — a bare & can start an entity by accident, so the ampersand itself is always written as an entity.
Frequently asked questions
Why would I use an entity instead of typing the character?
For characters with markup meaning, like < and &, entities keep the page valid; for symbols, they also help when a file encoding is uncertain.
What if my character is not in the table?
The tool reports no match, since it only covers common entities rather than the full HTML entity list.