freeCodeCamp/guide/english/html/symbols/index.md

---
title: Symbols
---

## Symbols

HTML symbol entities are characters that are not represented on a user's keyboards. Many mathematical, scientific, and currency symbols
are not present on a normal keyboard; therefore, to add such symbols to a page using HTML, the HTML entity name can be used.
It is important to note that these will not effect the HTML code themselves, and will always be interpreted as text. For example, if we wanted to type `<div>` as text on a webpage, we may need to use these symbol entities: `&lt;div&gt`.

If no entity name exists, either the entity number or hexadecimal reference can be used.

![Common HTML5 Symbols](http://ways2web.weebly.com/uploads/5/4/4/8/54485903/8779038_orig.png)

### Ampersand escape
If you want to show the entity name on a webpage like this:
```html
<p>&lt;html&gt;</p>
```
Then you need to use an ampersand escape, like below:
```html
<p>&amp;lt;html&amp;gt;</p>
```
This will display the entity name rather than the entity.

#### More Information:

* [W3 Schools Reference](https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_symbols.asp)
* [Symbols Reference Chart](https://dev.w3.org/html5/html-author/charref)
* [Toptal Reference](https://www.toptal.com/designers/htmlarrows/symbols/)
feat(guide): Import guide in to the client app 2018-10-04 14:47:55 +01:00			`---`
			`title: Symbols`
			`---`

			`## Symbols`

			`HTML symbol entities are characters that are not represented on a user's keyboards. Many mathematical, scientific, and currency symbols`
			`are not present on a normal keyboard; therefore, to add such symbols to a page using HTML, the HTML entity name can be used.`
Fixed capitalization and unclear example (#31484) * Fixed capitalization and unclear example I capitalized HTML in order to be consistent with the rest of the paragraph. I also added the less than sign and greater than sign symbol entity names to the example sentence, in order to make it more clear what symbol entity names you would actual need to use in that example. * Update index.md * Update index.md * Update index.md 2018-11-01 23:36:50 -04:00			It is important to note that these will not effect the HTML code themselves, and will always be interpreted as text. For example, if we wanted to type `<div>` as text on a webpage, we may need to use these symbol entities: `<div&gt`.
feat(guide): Import guide in to the client app 2018-10-04 14:47:55 +01:00
			`If no entity name exists, either the entity number or hexadecimal reference can be used.`

			`![Common HTML5 Symbols](http://ways2web.weebly.com/uploads/5/4/4/8/54485903/8779038_orig.png)`

Added ampersand escape tutorial (#20775) 2018-11-04 04:38:24 +11:00			`### Ampersand escape`
			`If you want to show the entity name on a webpage like this:`
			```html
			`<p><html></p>`
			```
			`Then you need to use an ampersand escape, like below:`
			```html
			`<p>&lt;html&gt;</p>`
			```
			`This will display the entity name rather than the entity.`

feat(guide): Import guide in to the client app 2018-10-04 14:47:55 +01:00			`#### More Information:`

Fixed last 2 links (#19483) Incorrect markdown format had them displaying a broken image link, because the links don't lead to an image. Used normal markdown link format instead. 2018-10-16 23:22:55 +11:00			`* [W3 Schools Reference](https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_symbols.asp)`
			`* [Symbols Reference Chart](https://dev.w3.org/html5/html-author/charref)`
External Reference (#20277) This is another HTML Symbol source and reference. 2018-10-28 18:32:53 -04:00			`* [Toptal Reference](https://www.toptal.com/designers/htmlarrows/symbols/)`
Fixed capitalization and unclear example (#31484) * Fixed capitalization and unclear example I capitalized HTML in order to be consistent with the rest of the paragraph. I also added the less than sign and greater than sign symbol entity names to the example sentence, in order to make it more clear what symbol entity names you would actual need to use in that example. * Update index.md * Update index.md * Update index.md 2018-11-01 23:36:50 -04:00