HTML Character Codes

HTML character codes, also known as character entities, are special codes used to display reserved characters and symbols in HTML documents. They ensure proper rendering of characters that might otherwise be interpreted as HTML syntax.

Purpose of HTML Character Codes

Character codes serve several important functions in web development:

• Displaying reserved characters (like <, >, and &)
• Representing symbols not found on standard keyboards
• Ensuring consistent character rendering across different devices and browsers

Basic Syntax

HTML character codes can be written in two formats:

1. Named entities: &entityname;
2. Numeric entities: &#entitynumber; or &#xhexnumber;

Common Character Entities

Character	Entity Name	Entity Number
<	&lt;	&#60;
>	&gt;	&#62;
&	&amp;	&#38;
"	&quot;	&#34;
'	&apos;	&#39;

Examples

Using Named Entities

<p>This is a paragraph with &lt;strong&gt;bold text&lt;/strong&gt;.</p>

Output: This is a paragraph with <strong>bold text</strong>.

Using Numeric Entities

<p>Copyright &#169; 2023. All rights reserved.</p>

Output: Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved.

Best Practices

• Use character entities for reserved characters in HTML syntax
• Prefer named entities for better readability when available
• Utilize numeric entities for less common symbols or when named entities are not supported
• Consider using UTF-8 encoding to reduce the need for character entities

Related Concepts

To further enhance your understanding of HTML character codes, explore these related topics:

• HTML Entities
• HTML Symbols
• HTML Emojis
• HTML Charset

By mastering HTML character codes, you'll ensure your web content displays correctly across various platforms and browsers, enhancing the overall user experience of your websites.