Should I use named or numeric HTML entities?

Named entities like & and < are more readable and universally supported for the common reserved characters. Numeric entities are useful for characters that do not have a named form or when working in environments that do not decode named entities.

Do I need entities in a UTF-8 HTML5 page?

In a UTF-8 HTML5 document you only need entities for the five reserved characters: > & & " " and ' '. All other Unicode characters can be included directly in the source.

What is the entity used for?

is a non-breaking space. Unlike a regular space, it prevents a line break at that position. It is often used to keep two words together on the same line, like "10 km".

Should I use named or numeric HTML entities?

Named entities like & and < are more readable and universally supported for the common reserved characters. Numeric entities are useful for characters that do not have a named form or when working in environments that do not decode named entities.

Do I need entities in a UTF-8 HTML5 page?

In a UTF-8 HTML5 document you only need entities for the five reserved characters: > & & " " and ' '. All other Unicode characters can be included directly in the source.

What is the entity used for?

is a non-breaking space. Unlike a regular space, it prevents a line break at that position. It is often used to keep two words together on the same line, like "10 km".

What are HTML Entities? — Character References Explained

Q: Do I need entities in a UTF-8 HTML5 page?

In a UTF-8 HTML5 document you only need entities for the five reserved characters: > & & " " and ' '. All other Unicode characters can be included directly in the source.

Definition

HTML entities are special text sequences used to represent characters that either have special meaning in HTML markup (like < and >) or that cannot be typed directly. An entity begins with & and ends with ;, and can use either a named reference like & or a numeric reference like & (decimal) or & (hexadecimal). They were essential in early HTML when encodings were inconsistent, and they remain necessary for certain reserved characters.

How It Works

When an HTML parser encounters & in text content, it reads characters until it finds a ;, then looks up the full entity name or numeric code in its entity table and substitutes the corresponding Unicode character. For characters that are reserved in HTML (< > & " '), using their entity equivalents prevents them from being interpreted as markup. For example, < tells the parser to display < as text rather than interpret it as the start of a tag. Modern HTML5 documents with a declared UTF-8 charset can include most Unicode characters directly, so entities are mainly needed for <, >, &, ", and a few others.

Common Use Cases

▸Displaying < and > as literal characters in HTML without starting a tag
▸Preventing cross-site scripting (XSS) by escaping user input before rendering in HTML
▸Including the copyright © or trademark ™ symbol in older documents
▸Embedding non-breaking spaces   to control text layout
▸Representing characters from scripts not easily typeable on a keyboard

Example

<p>5 &lt; 10 &amp;&amp; 10 &gt; 5</p>
Renders as: "5 < 10 && 10 > 5"

&copy; → ©
&nbsp; → non-breaking space
&#9829; → ♥

Related Tools

&HTML Encode

Encode special HTML characters to their entity equivalents.

<>HTML Decode

Decode HTML entities back to their original characters.

FAQ

Should I use named or numeric HTML entities?: Named entities like & and < are more readable and universally supported for the common reserved characters. Numeric entities are useful for characters that do not have a named form or when working in environments that do not decode named entities.
Do I need entities in a UTF-8 HTML5 page?: In a UTF-8 HTML5 document you only need entities for the five reserved characters: < < > > & & " " and ' '. All other Unicode characters can be included directly in the source.
What is the   entity used for?:   is a non-breaking space. Unlike a regular space, it prevents a line break at that position. It is often used to keep two words together on the same line, like "10 km".

Related Terms

URL Encoding Unicode HTML