HTML Document Representation

To promote interoperability, applications need to specify a document character set. Because the ASCII character set is not sufficient for a global information system such as the Web, HTML uses the much more complete character set called the Universal Character Set (UCS), which is character-by-character equivalent to Unicode.

Character References

A given character encoding (such as Latin-1 or ISO-8859-5) may not be able to express all characters of the document character set. For such encodings, or when hardware or software configurations do not allow users to input some document characters directly, authors may use character references. Character references are a character encoding-independent mechanism for entering any character from the document character set. Character references in HTML may appear in two forms:

• Numeric character references
• Character entity references

Numeric character references specify the code position of a character in the document character set (e.g. ä). In order to give authors a more intuitive way of referring to characters in the document character set, HTML offers a set of character entity references. Character entity references use symbolic names so that authors need not remember code positions (e.g. ä). However, HTML 4 does not define a character entity reference for every character in the document character set.
Some more frequently used characters such as arrows and symbols, foreign letters, Greek letters, mathematical characters, and some miscellaneous characters are listed in the tables below. The first rows display the special character, if your browser supports HTML 4 and if your computer provides a suitable font. In case you cannot see the appropriate character, the second rows give a brief description of the character. The third rows show the code to type to achieve the desired special character.
 
Note:

• Character entity references are case-sensitive
• Don't forget the terminating semicolon

Arrows and Symbols
	Character Description HTML Code ← leftwards arrow ← -> rightwards arrow → ↑ upwards arrow ↑ ↓ downwards arrow ↓ ↔ horizontal arrow ↔		Character Description HTML Code ° degree sign ° ‰ per mille sign ‰ × multiplication sign × ÷ division sign ÷ · middle dot ·
Foreign Letters
	Character Description HTML Code À A with grave À Á A with acute Á  A with circumflex  à A with tilde Ã Ä A with diaeresis (umlaut A) Ä Å A with ring (Angstrom) Å Æ AE Æ Ç C with cedilla Ç È E with grave È É E with acute É Ê E with circumflex Ê Ë E with diaeresis Ë Ì I with grave Ì Í I with acute Í Î I with circumflex Î Ï I with diaeresis Ï Ð Eth Ð Ñ N with tilde Ñ Ò O with grave Ò Ó O with acute Ó Ô O with circumflex Ô Õ O with tilde Õ Ö O with diaeresis (umlaut O) Ö Ø O with stroke Ø Ù U with grave Ù Ú U with acute Ú Û U with circumflex Û Ü U with diaeresis (umlaut U) Ü Ý Y with acute Ý Þ Thorn Þ		Character Description HTML Code à a with grave à á a with acute á â a with circumflex â ã a with tilde ã ä a with diaeresis (umlaut a) ä å a with ring å æ ae æ ç c with cedilla ç è e with grave è é e with acute é ê e with circumflex ê ë e with diaeresis ë ì i with grave ì í i with acute í î i with circumflex î ï i with diaeresis ï ð eth ð ñ n with tilde ñ ò o with grave ò ó o with acute ó ô o with circumflex ô õ o with tilde õ ö o with diaeresis (umlaut o) ö ø o with stroke ø ù u with grave ù ú u with acute ú û u with circumflex û ü u with diaeresis (umlaut u) ü ý y with acute ý þ thorn þ ÿ y with diaeresis ÿ ß sz (sharp s) ß
Greek Letters
	Character Description HTML Code Α Alpha Α Β Beta Β Γ Gamma Γ Δ Delta Δ Ε Epsilon Ε Ζ Zeta Ζ Η Eta Η Θ Theta Θ Ι Iota Ι Κ Kappa Κ Λ Lambda Λ Μ Mu Μ Ν Nu Ν Ξ Xi Ξ Ο Omicron Ο Π Pi Π Ρ Rho Ρ Σ Sigma Σ Τ Tau Τ Υ Upsilon Υ Φ Phi Φ Χ Chi Χ Ψ Psi Ψ Ω Omega Ω		Character Description HTML Code α alpha α β beta β γ gamma γ δ delta δ ε epsilon ε ζ zeta ζ η eta η θ theta θ ι iota ι κ kappa κ λ lambda λ μ mu μ ν nu ν ξ xi ξ ο omicron ο π pi π ρ rho ρ σ sigma σ τ tau τ υ upsilon υ φ phi φ χ chi χ ψ psi ψ ω omega ω
Mathematical Characters
	Character Description HTML Code < less than &lt; ≤ less than or equal &le; > greater than &gt; ≥ greater than or equal &ge; ≠ not equal &ne; ≈ asymptotic &asymp; ≡ equivalent &equiv;		Character Description HTML Code ± plus minus sign &plusmn; ∞ infinity &infin; ∂ partial differential &part; ∏ product &prod; ∑ sum &sum; ∫ integral &int; √ radix &radic;
Miscellaneous Characters
	Character Description HTML Code & ampersand &amp; † dagger &dagger; ‡ double dagger &Dagger; ... horizontal ellipsis &hellip;		Character Description HTML Code " quotation mark &quot; ' left single quotation mark &lsquo; ' right single quotation mark &rsquo; ′ prime &prime;