ENTITIES7 min20 XP

HTML Entities

Learn HTML Entities with syntax-highlighted examples, live output, and Shiv AI.

HTML Entities and Special Characters

Some characters have special meaning in HTML — like < and > which mark tags. To display them as visible text you use HTML entities. They start with & and end with ;.

The Problem — Reserved Characters

Example — Why Entities Are Needed

<!-- WRONG: browser thinks <b> is a new tag -->
<p>The tag for bold is <b> in HTML</p>

<!-- CORRECT: use &lt; and &gt; -->
<p>The tag for bold is &lt;b&gt; in HTML</p>

The tag for bold is <b> in HTML

Using < and > displays the angle brackets as visible text without confusing the HTML parser.

Common Entities

Example — Essential Entities in Use

<p>Copyright: &copy; 2025 CIWeb</p>
<p>Trademark: CIWeb&trade;</p>
<p>Price: &#8377;11</p>
<p>Arrow: Home &rarr; Courses</p>
<p>Dash: HTML &mdash; the skeleton</p>
<p>Non-breaking: Rs.&nbsp;11</p>

Trademark: CIWeb™

Price: ₹11

Arrow: Home → Courses

Dash: HTML — the skeleton

Non-breaking: Rs. 11

Essential EntitiesMust Know

&Displays & — ampersand. Required in URLs and text

<Displays < — less than. Required to show HTML tags as text

>Displays > — greater than

 Non-breaking space. Prevents line break between words

©Displays © copyright symbol

™Displays ™ trademark

®Displays ® registered trademark

₹Displays ₹ Indian Rupee (numeric code)

€Displays € Euro currency

→Displays → right arrow. Used in breadcrumbs

—Displays — em dash. Longer than hyphen

Always Escape These

Always use & < > when displaying them as visible text. Leaving them unescaped can break your HTML or introduce XSS security vulnerabilities.

Named vs Numeric

Entities have named forms like © and numeric forms like ©. Named are more readable. Numeric work for any Unicode character even without a name — like the Indian Rupee sign.

Why Entities Exist

HTML uses < and > for tags so you cannot type them directly as visible text — the browser would think a new tag is starting. Entities are the escape system that separates HTML syntax from displayed content.

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How do you display the < character as visible text?

Explanation< is the HTML entity for the less-than sign. Typing < directly makes the browser think a new tag is starting which breaks your HTML.

Build Challenge

Entities Page

Build a page showing reserved characters, symbols, currency, and arrows using HTML entities.

Requirements (5 to pass)

amp entity

lt entity

gt entity

nbsp

solution.html

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Lesson 14

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