So... if an HTML element, such as <html> </html> will be read by the browser and not shown on the webpage, how did I just get that element to show up on the webpage?!
There are five "reserved characters" in HTML. They are: " ' & < >. Despite being reserved for HTML, these characters can be made visible in a browser using HTML entities.
HTML entities represent symbols, or characters, such as those that you see on your keyboard, as well as many that are not included on your keyboard, such as the copyright © symbol. Each entity is identified by a short, unique code beginning with an ampersand & and ending with a semicolon ; with the entity name in between.
ASCII characters are the standard 128 characters used in languages and by computers and other devices, consisting of the numbers 0-9, the uppercase and lowercase English alphabet, and other standard English punctuation and characters. There are HTML entities for each ASCII character, and for hundreds of other printable characters. I will list a few of the most common ones here.
| Symbol | Description | Numerical Code | Name Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| space |   | | |
| ! | exclamation mark | ! | |
| " | quotation mark | " | " |
| # | number sign | # | |
| $ | dollar sign | $ | |
| % | percent sign | % | |
| & | ampersand | & | |
| ' | apostrophe | ' | |
| ( | left parenthesis | ( | |
| ) | right parenthesis | ) | |
| * | asterisk | * | |
| + | plus sign | + | |
| , | comma | , | |
| - | hyphen | - | |
| . | period | . | |
| / | slash | / | |
| 0 | digit 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | digit 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | digit 2 | 2 | |
| 3 | digit 3 | 3 | |
| 4 | digit 4 | 4 | |
| 5 | digit 5 | 5 | |
| 6 | digit 6 | 6 | |
| 7 | digit 7 | 7 | |
| 8 | digit 8 | 8 | |
| 9 | digit 9 | 9 | |
| : | colon | : | |
| ; | semicolon | ; | |
| < | less-than | < | < |
| = | equals-to | = | |
| > | greater-than | > | > |
| ? | question mark | ? | |
| @ | at sign | @ | |
| A | uppercase A | A | |
| B | uppercase B | B | |
| C | uppercase C | C | |
| D | uppercase D | D | |
| E | uppercase E | E | |
| F | uppercase F | F | |
| G | uppercase G | G | |
| H | uppercase H | H | |
| I | uppercase I | I | |
| J | uppercase J | J | |
| K | uppercase K | K | |
| L | uppercase L | L | |
| M | uppercase M | M | |
| N | uppercase N | N | |
| O | uppercase O | O | |
| P | uppercase P | P | |
| Q | uppercase Q | Q | |
| R | uppercase R | R | |
| S | uppercase S | S | |
| T | uppercase T | T | |
| U | uppercase U | U | |
| V | uppercase V | V | |
| W | uppercase W | W | |
| X | uppercase X | X | |
| Y | uppercase Y | Y | |
| Z | uppercase Z | Z | |
| [ | left square bracket | [ | |
| \ | backslash | \ | |
| ] | right square bracket | ] | |
| ^ | caret | ^ | |
| _ | underscore | _ | |
| ` | grave accent | ` | |
| a | lowercase a | a | |
| b | lowercase b | b | |
| c | lowercase c | c | |
| d | lowercase d | d | |
| e | lowercase e | e | |
| f | lowercase f | f | |
| g | lowercase g | g | |
| h | lowercase h | h | |
| i | lowercase i | i | |
| j | lowercase j | j | |
| k | lowercase k | k | |
| l | lowercase l | l | |
| m | lowercase m | m | |
| n | lowercase n | n | |
| o | lowercase o | o | |
| p | lowercase p | p | |
| q | lowercase q | q | |
| r | lowercase r | r | |
| s | lowercase s | s | |
| t | lowercase t | t | |
| u | lowercase u | u | |
| v | lowercase v | v | |
| w | lowercase w | w | |
| x | lowercase x | x | |
| y | lowercase y | y | |
| z | lowercase z | z | |
| { | left curly brace | { | |
| | | vertical bar | | | |
| } | right curly brace | } | |
| ~ | tilde | ~ | ∼ |
| ¡ | Inverted Exclamation | ¡ | ¡ |
| ¢ | Cent | ¢ | ¢ |
| £ | English Pound | £ | £ |
| ¤ | Currency | ¤ | ¤ |
| ¥ | Yen | ¥ | ¥ |
| ¦ | Broken Vertical Bar | ¦ | ¦ |
| § | Section | § | § |
| ¨ | Double Dot | ¨ | ¨ |
| © | Copyright | © | © |
| ª | Feminine Ordinal Indicator | ª | ª |
| « | Left Angle Quotation Mark | « | « |
| » | Right Angle Quotation Mark | » | » |
| ¬ | Negation | ¬ | ¬ |
| ® | Registered Trademark | ® | ® |
| ¯ | Spacing Macron | ¯ | ¯ |
| ° | Degree(s) | ° | ° |
| ± | Plus or Minus | ± | ± |
| ² | Superscript 2 | ² | ² |
| ³ | Superscript 3 | ³ | ³ |
| ´ | Spacing Acute | ´ | ´ |
| µ | Micro | µ | µ |
| ¶ | Paragraph | ¶ | ¶ |
| · | Middle Dot | · | · |
| ¸ | Spacing Cedilla | ¸ | ¸ |
| ¹ | Superscript 1 | ¹ | ¹ |
| º | Masculine Ordinal Indicator | º | º |
| ¼ | ¼ Fraction | ¼ | ¼ |
| ½ | ½ Fraction | ½ | ½ |
| ¾ | ¾ Fraction | ¾ | ¾ |
| ¿ | Inverted Question Mark | ¿ | ¿ |
| À | Grave Accent-Captial A | À | À |
| Á | Acute Accent-Capital A | Á | Á |
| Â | Circumflex Accent-Capital A | Â | Â |
| Ã | Tilde-Capital A | Ã | Ã |
| Ä | Umlaut Mark-Capital A | Ä | Ä |
| Å | Ring-Capital A | Å | Å |
| Æ | Capital ae | Æ | Æ |
| Ç | Cedilla-Capital C | Ç | Ç |
| È | Grave Accent-Capital E | È | È |
| É | Acute Accent-Capital E | É | É |
| Ê | Circumflex Accent-Capital E | Ê | Ê |
| Ë | Umlaut Mark-Capital E | Ë | |
| Ì | Grave Accent-Capital I | Ì | Ì |
| Í | Acute Accent-Capital I | Í | Í |
| Î | Circumflex Accent-Capital I | Î | Î |
| Ï | Umlaut Mark-Capital I | Ï | Ï |
| Ð | Capital eth | Ð | Ð |
| Ñ | Tilde-Capital N | Ñ | Ñ |
| Ò | Grave Accent-Capital O | Ò | Ò |
| Ó | Acute Accent-Capital O | Ó | Ó |
| Ô | Circumflex Accent-Capital O | Ô | Ô |
| Õ | Tilde-Capital O | Õ | Õ |
| Ö | Umlaut Mark-Capital O | Ö | |
| × | Multiplication | × | × |
| Ø | Slash-Capital O | Ø | Ø |
| Ù | Grave Accent-Capital U | Ù | Ù |
| Ú | Acute Accent-Captital U | Ú | Ú |
| Û | Circumflex Accent-Capital U | Û | Û |
| Ü | Umlaut Mark-Capital U | Ü | Ü |
| Ý | Acute Accent-Capital Y | Ý | Ý |
| Þ | Thorn | Þ | Þ |
| ß | Small Sharp | ß | ß |
| æ | Small ae | æ | æ |
| ð | Small eth | ð | ð |
| ø | Slash-Small o | ø | ø |
| þ | Small Thorn | þ | þ |
| Π| Capital Ligature | Π| Π|
| œ | Small Ligature | œ | œ |
| ˆ | Modifier Circumflex Accent | ˆ | ˆ |
| ˜ | Small Tilde | ˜ | ˜ |
| – | En Dash | – | – |
| — | Em Dash | — | — |
| ‘ | Left Single Quote | ‘ | ‘ |
| ’ | Right Single Quote | ’ | ’ |
| ‚ | Single Low Quote | ‚ | ‚ |
| “ | Left Double Quote | “ | “ |
| ” | Right Double Quote | ” | ” |
| „ | Double Low Quote | „ | „ |
| † | Dagger | † | † |
| ‡ | Double Dagger | ‡ | ‡ |
| ‰ | Per Mile | ‰ | ‰ |
| ‹ | Left Single Arrow Quote | ‹ | ‹ |
| › | Right Single Arrow Quote | › | › |
| € | Euro Mark | € | € |
| ™ | TradeMark | ™ | ™ |