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Character Encoding Quick Guide
 
 
Encoding defines how the values of certain characters are represented, in terms of bits. Examples:
  • ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), a 7-bit character set.
  • ISO-8859-1, a 8-bit character set.
  • Unicode, a 16-bit character set.


Quick reference







How to display special characters on a web page



HTML and HTTP protocols make frequent reference to ISO Latin-1 and the character code ISO-8859-1. The HTTP specification mandates the use of the code ISO-8859-1 as the default character code that is passed over the network.

The term "ISO Latin-1" refers to a specific repertoire of "glyphs" (= "displayed characters") without reference to a particular encoding (= assigned to a value). ISO-8859-1 character code refers to ISO standard arrangement of ISO Latin-1 glyphs to code values. There are however other (non-ISO) encodings of the ISO Latin-1 glyphs. For example the IBM PC code page CP850.

ISO-8859-1 explicitly does not define displayable characters for positions 0-31 and 127-159, and the HTML standard does not allow those to be used for displayable characters. The only characters in this range that are used are 9, 10 and 13, which are tab, newline and carriage return respectively.

Note: ISO-8859-1 is also known as Latin-1.

To add the ® character in HTML, type:
  • &#decimal_value;

    For example: ®    

  • &#xhex_value;

    For example: ®


Decimal Hex Unicode Description CharacterEntity Name
009 090009horizontal tab [ht]  
010 0A000Anew line, line feed [nl]  
013 0D000Dcarriage return [cr]  
033 210021Exclamation mark ! 
034 220022quotation mark ""
035 230023Number sign # 
036 240024Dollar sign $ 
037 250025Percent sign % 
038 260026Ampersand &&
039 270027Apostrophe ' 
040 280028Left parenthesis ( 
041 290029Right parenthesis ) 
042 2A002AAsterisk * 
043 2B002BPlus sign + 
044 2C002CComma , 
045 2D002DHyphen - 
046 2E002EPeriod (fullstop) . 
047 2F002FSolidus (slash) / 
048 3000300 0 
049 3100311 1 
050 3200322 2 
051 3300333 3 
052 3400344 4 
053 3500355 5 
054 3600366 6 
055 3700377 7 
056 3800388 8 
057 3900399 9 
058 3A003AColon : 
059 3B003BSemi-colon ; 
060 3C003Cless-than sign <&lt;
061 3D003DEquals sign; = 
062 3E003Egreater-than sign >&gt;
063 3F003FQuestion mark ? 
064 400040Commercial at @ 
065 410041A A 
066 420042B B 
067 430043C C 
068 440044D D 
069 450045E E 
070 460046F F 
071 470047G G 
072 480048H H 
073 490049I I 
074 4A004AJ J 
075 4B004BK K 
076 4C004CL L 
077 4D004DM M 
078 4E004EN N 
079 4F004FO O 
080 500050P P 
081 510051Q Q 
082 520052R R 
083 530053S S 
084 540054T T 
085 550055U U 
086 560056V V 
087 570057W W 
088 580058X X 
089 590059Y Y 
090 5A005AZ Z 
091 5B005BLeft square bracket [ 
092 5C005CReverse solidus (backslash) \ 
093 5D005DRight square bracket ] 
094 5E005ECaret ^ 
095 5F005FHorizontal bar (underscore) _ 
096 600060Acute accent ` 
097 610061a a 
098 620062b b 
099 630063c c 
100 640064d d 
101 650065e e 
102 660066f f 
103 670067g g 
104 680068h h 
105 690069i i 
106 6A006Aj j 
107 6B006Bk k 
108 6C006Cl l 
109 6D006Dm m 
110 6E006En n 
111 6F006Fo o 
112 700070p p 
113 710071q q 
114 720072r r 
115 730073s s 
116 740074t t 
117 750075u u 
118 760076v v 
119 770077w w 
120 780078x x 
121 790079y y 
122 7A007Az z 
123 7B007BLeft curly brace { 
124 7C007CVertical bar | 
125 7D007DRight curly brace } 
126 7E007ETilde ~ 
160 A000A0non-breaking space  &nbsp;
161 A100A1inverted exclamation ¡&iexcl;
162 A200A2cent sign ¢&cent;
163 A300A3pound sterling £&pound;
164 A400A4general currency sign ¤&curren;
165 A500A5yen sign ¥&yen;
166 A600A6broken vertical bar ¦&brvbar;
167 A700A7section sign §&sect;
168 A800A8umlaut (dieresis) ¨&uml;
169 A900A9copyright ©&copy;
170 AA00AAfeminine ordinal ª&ordf;
171 AB00ABleft angle quote, guillemotleft «&laquo;
172 AC00ACnot sign ¬&not;
173 AD00ADsoft hyphen ­&shy;
174 AE00AEregistered trademark ®&reg;
175 AF00AFmacron accent ¯&macr;
176 B000B0degree sign °&deg;
177 B100B1plus or minus ±&plusmn;
178 B200B2superscript two ²&sup2;
179 B300B3superscript three ³&sup3;
180 B400B4acute accent ´&acute;
181 B500B5micro sign µ&micro;
182 B600B6paragraph sign &para;
183 B700B7middle dot ·&middot;
184 B800B8cedilla ¸&cedil;
185 B900B9superscript one ¹&sup1;
186 BA00BAmasculine ordinal º&ordm;
187 BB00BBright angle quote, guillemotright »&raquo;
188 BC00BCfraction one-fourth ¼&frac14;
189 BD00BDfraction one-half ½&frac12;
190 BE00BEfraction three-fourths ¾&frac34;
191 BF00BFinverted question mark ¿&iquest;
192 C000C0capital A, grave accent À&Agrave;
193 C100C1capital A, acute accent Á&Aacute;
194 C200C2capital A, circumflex accent Â&Acirc;
195 C300C3capital A, tilde Ã&Atilde;
196 C400C4capital A, dieresis or umlaut mark Ä&Auml;
197 C500C5capital A, ring Å&Aring;
198 C600C6capital AE diphthong (ligature) Æ&AElig;
199 C700C7capital C, cedilla Ç&Ccedil;
200 C800C8capital E, grave accent È&Egrave;
201 C900C9capital E, acute accent É&Eacute;
202 CA00CAcapital E, circumflex accent Ê&Ecirc;
203 CB00CBcapital E, dieresis or umlaut mark Ë&Euml;
204 CC00CCcapital I, grave accent Ì&Igrave;
205 CD00CDcapital I, acute accent Í&Iacute;
206 CE00CEcapital I, circumflex accent Î&Icirc;
207 CF00CFcapital I, dieresis or umlaut mark Ï&Iuml;
208 D000D0capital Eth, Icelandic Ð&ETH;
209 D100D1capital N, tilde Ñ&Ntilde;
210 D200D2capital O, grave accent Ò&Ograve;
211 D300D3capital O, acute accent Ó&Oacute;
212 D400D4capital O, circumflex accent Ô&Ocirc;
213 D500D5capital O, tilde Õ&Otilde;
214 D600D6capital O, dieresis or umlaut mark Ö&Ouml;
215 D700D7multiply sign ×&times;
216 D800D8capital O, slash Ø&Oslash;
217 D900D9capital U, grave accent Ù&Ugrave;
218 DA00DAcapital U, acute accent Ú&Uacute;
219 DB00DBcapital U, circumflex accent Û&Ucirc;
220 DC00DCcapital U, dieresis or umlaut mark Ü&Uuml;
221 DD00DDcapital Y, acute accent Ý&Yacute;
222 DE00DEcapital THORN, Icelandic Þ&THORN;
223 DF00DFsmall sharp s, German (sz ligature) ß&szlig;
224 E000E0small a, grave accent à&agrave;
225 E100E1small a, acute accent á&aacute;
226 E200E2small a, circumflex accent â&acirc;
227 E300E3small a, tilde ã&atilde;
228 E400E4small a, dieresis or umlaut mark ä&auml;
229 E500E5small a, ring å&aring;
230 E600E6small ae, dipthong æ&aelig;
231 E700E7small c, cedilla ç&ccedil;
232 E800E8small e, grave accent è&egrave;
233 E900E9small e, acute accent é&eacute;
234 EA00EAsmall e, circumflex accent ê&ecirc;
235 EB00EBsmall e, dieresis or umlaut mark ë&euml;
236 EC00ECsmall i, grave accent ì&igrave;
237 ED00EDsmall i, acute accent í&iacute;
238 EE00EEsmall i, circumflex accent î&icirc;
239 EF00EFsmall i, dieresis or umlaut mark ï&iuml;
240 F000F0small eth, Icelandic ð&eth;
241 F100F1small n, tilde ñ&ntilde;
242 F200F2small o, grave accent ò&ograve;
243 F300F3small o, acute accent ó&oacute;
244 F400F4small o, circumflex accent ô&ocirc;
245 F500F5small o, tilde õ&otilde;
246 F600F6small o, dieresis or umlaut mark ö&ouml;
247 F700F7division sign ÷&divide;
248 F800F8small o, slash ø&oslash;
249 F900F9small u, grave accent ù&ugrave;
250 FA00FAsmall u, acute accent ú&uacute;
251 FB00FBsmall u, circumflex accent û&ucirc;
252 FC00FCsmall u, dieresis or umlaut mark ü&uuml;
253 FD00FDsmall y, acute accent ý&yacute;
254 FE00FEsmall thorn, Icelandic þ&thorn;
255 FF00FFsmall y, dieresis or umlaut mark ÿ&yuml;