ASCII Characters

Different programs and platforms encode certain characters differently from one another, and the results from pasting text into html documents, may no be as expected. The solution is to know how to encode the other characters.

• 92 characters can be pasted as-is:
  • 52 letter characters (26 lower-case letter, 26 upper-case letters),
  • 10 digits,
  • the following 30 punctuation marks:
    ` - = [ ] ; * , . / ~ ! @ # $ % ^ ( ) _ + { } | : ? | " '
• Any other character will need to be described one of three ways:

1. using its ascii code (see chart),
2. using the symbol font, or, as a last resort,
3. as a small .gif image (last resort).

• The following 4 characters will display properly in most browsers. Their ascii names should be given to avoid confusion on the browser's part, as they may be interpreted as the beginning of a tag or encoding mark.

1. ampersand & &
2. greater-than symbol > >
3. less-than symbol < &lt;
4. quotation marks " &quot;

• Non-breaking space is a special character. Browsers usually ignore white space, but accurate spacing can be achieved by specifically encoding spaces using: &nbsp;
• Ascii can describe a maximum of 256 characters. Unicode, a newer standard can describe over 65,000 characters (which will include every alphabet in the world). Note: Most font sets do not support most of the unicode characters, and many characters such as the new Euro symbol {€ (&euro;), € (&#8354;} or the heart symbol {&9829; (&9829;), &hearts; (&hearts;)} will not be visible on most users' systems.
• Greek letters Alpha through Omega have the ascii codes ? (&#913;) to ? (&#936;) but browsers do not support these yet.

The table below indicates characters that may be typed "as is", but shouldn't as they may confuse some browsers, characters that must be encoded (and their codes), and characters to be avoided as they are system dependant.

How to Use This Chart:

Scroll down to find the character you want to use (in a colored box), then find its corresponding ascii characters (in the white line below it). Note: Some characters can be represented with two different codes.

SPECIAL CHARACTER

` - = [ ] \ ; * , . / ~ ! @ # $ % ^ ( ) _ + { } | : ? | " '					& ampersand	< less-than	> greater-than
The characters above do not require encoding.					&amp;	&lt;	&gt;
€		‚ bottom single quote	ƒ florin	„ bottom double quote	… ellipses	† dagger	‡ double dagger
&#128;	&#129;	&#130;	&#131;	&#132;	&#133;	&#134;	&#135;
ˆ carat	‰ per mille	Š	‹ left angle bracket	Œ OE ligature		Ž	
&#136;	&#137;	&#138;	&#139; &gt;	&#140; &OElig;	&#141;	&#142;	&#143;
	‘ left single quote	’ right single quote	“ left double quote	” right double quote	• bullet	– n-dash	— m-dash
&#144;	&#145;	&#146;	&#147;	&#148;	&#149;	&#150;	&#151;
˜ tilde	™ trademark	š	› right angle bracket	œ oe ligature		ž	Ÿ Y with umlaut
&#152; &tilde;	&#153;	&#154;	&#155; &lt;	&#156; &oelig;	&#157;	&#158;	&#159;
	¡ inverted exclamation point	¢ cent	£ British pound	¤ currency	¥ Japanese yen	¦	§ section symbol
&#160;	&#161; &iexcel;	&#162; &cent;	&#163; &pound;	&#164; &curren;	&#165; &yen;	&#166;	&#167; &sect;
¨ umlaut/ diaresis	© copyright	ª feminine ordinal	« double left angle brackets	¬ not	­	® registration	¯ overline/ macron
&#168; &uml;	&#169; &copy;	&#170; &ordf;	&#171; &laquo;	&#172; &not;	&#173;	&#174; &reg;	&#175; &macr;
° degree	± plus or minus	²	³	´ acute accent	µ micro	¶ paragraph	· middle dot
&#176; &deg;	&#177; &plusmn;	&#178;	&#179;	&#180; &acute;	&#181; &micro;	&#182; &para;	&#183; &middot;
¸ cedilla	¹	º masculine ordinal	» double right angle brackets	¼	½	¾	¿ inverted question mark
&#184; &cedil;	&#185;	&#186; &ordm;	&#187; &raquo;	&#188;	&#189;	&#190;	&#191; &iquest;
À A with grave accent	Á A with acute accent	 A with circumflex	à A with tilde	Ä A with umlaut	Å Angstrom	Æ AE ligature	Ç C with cedilla
&#192; &Agrave;	&#193; &Aacute;	&#194; &Acirc;	&#195; &Atilde;	&#196; &Auml;	&#197; &Aring;	&#198; &AElig;	&#199; &Ccedil;
È E with grave accent	É E with acute accent	Ê E with circumflex	Ë E with umlaut	Ì I with grave accent	Í I with acute accent	Î I with circumflex	Ï I with umlaut
&#200; &Egrave;	&#201; &Eacute;	&#202; &Ecirc;	&#203; &Euml;	&#204; &Igrave;	&#205; &Iacute;	&#206; &Icirc;	&#207; &Iuml;
Ð	Ñ N with tilde	Ò O with grave accent	Ó O with acute accent	Ô O with circumflex	Õ O with tilde	Ö O with umlaut	×
&#208;	&#209; &Ntilde;	&#210; &Ograve;	&#211; &Oacute;	&#212; &Ocirc;	&#213; &Otilde;	&#214; &Ouml;	&#215;
Ø O with slash	Ù U with grave accent	Ú U with acute accent	Û U with circumflex	Ü U with umlaut	Ý	Þ	ß German es-zed ligature
&#216; &Oslash;	&#217; &Ugrave;	&#218; &Uacute;	&#219; &Ucirc;	&#220; &Uuml;	&#221;	&#222;	&#223; &szlig;
à a with grave accent	á a with acute accent	â a with circumflex	ã a with tilde	ä a with umlaut	å angstrom	æ ae ligature	ç c with cedilla
&#224; &agrave;	&#225; &aacute;	&#226; &acirc;	&#227; &atilde;	&#228; &auml;	&#229; &aring;	&#230; &aelig;	&#231; &ccedil;
è e with grave accent	é e with acute accent	ê e with circumflex	ë e with umlaut	ì i with grave accent	í i with acute accent	î i with circumflex	ï i with umlaut
&#232; &egrave;	&#233; &eacute;	&#234; &ecirc;	&#235; &euml;	&#236; &igrave;	&#237; &iacute;	&#238; &icirc;	&#239; &iuml;
ð	ñ n with tilde	ò o with grave accent	ó o with acute accent	ô o with circumflex	õ o with tilde	ö o with umlaut	÷ division
&#240;	&#241; &ntilde;	&#242; &ograve;	&#243; &oacute;	&#244; &ocirc;	&#245; &otilde;	&#246; &ouml;	&#247; &divide;
ø o with slash	ù u with grave accent	ú u with acute accent	û u with circumflex	ü u with umlaut	&#253;	&#254;	ÿ y with umlaut
&#248; &oslash;	&#249; &ugrave;	&#250; &uacute;	&#251; &ucirc;	&#252; &uuml;	&#253;	&#254;	&#255; &yuml;