Introduction to HTML Entities

HTML entities are used to represent special characters in HTML. They are especially useful when you need to include characters that are reserved in HTML or not easily typed on a keyboard.

What are HTML Entities?

An HTML entity is a string that begins with an ampersand (&) and ends with a semicolon (;). For example, the entity for the less-than sign (<) is &lt;. When the browser parses an HTML file, it replaces the entities with their corresponding characters.

Useful HTML Entity APIs

Here are some commonly used HTML entities along with their code snippets:

&amp; (Ampersand)

&
    

&lt; (Less-Than)

<
    

&gt; (Greater-Than)

>
    

&quot; (Double Quote)

"
    

&apos; (Single Quote)

'
    

&nbsp; (Non-Breaking Space)

 
    

&copy; (Copyright)

©
    

&reg; (Registered Trademark)

®
    

&times; (Multiplication Sign)

×
    

&euro; (Euro)

€
    

Practical Example Using HTML Entities

The following example demonstrates how to use various HTML entities to display a sentence with special characters:

<div>
    <p>This &amp; that</p>
    <p>5 &lt; 10 &amp; 15 &gt; 10</p>
    <p>He said, &quot;Hello!&quot;</p>
    <p>It&apos;s a beautiful day</p>
    <p>No-break space example: Hello&nbsp;World!</p>
    <p>&copy; 2023 MyCompany&reg;</p>
    <p>Multiplication: 5&times;3=15</p>
    <p>Currency: &euro;10</p>
</div>
    

Conclusion

HTML entities are a crucial part of web development as they allow you to include special characters in your HTML documents. Understanding and using these entities will help you encode your web pages correctly and ensure they’re displayed as intended.