How to Use the SymbolFYI HTML Entity Finder

HTML entity codes are one of those things web developers encounter constantly but rarely have memorized beyond the handful they use daily. What's the entity for the copyright sign? The non-breaking space? The em dash? The right double quotation mark? The HTML Entity Finder gives you a single search interface to find any HTML entity by character, name, or code point, and returns the entity code in all three formats — named, decimal, and hex — ready to copy.

What the HTML Entity Finder Does

The HTML Entity Finder is a specialized lookup tool covering the full HTML5 named entity list — over 2,200 named references defined in the HTML specification — plus numeric references for any Unicode code point. Rather than browsing a long static table (useful but unwieldy), the Entity Finder lets you:

• Type a character description to find its entity name
• Paste the character directly to look up its entity code
• Enter a code point to find whether a named entity exists
• Browse by character category to discover entities for a domain
• Copy the entity code in the exact format your project uses

The tool returns results in real time as you type, typically narrowing to the right answer within two or three keystrokes.

Search Methods

Search by Character Name

Type a description or part of a Unicode character name in the search field. The finder searches both official Unicode names and common aliases:

• copyright → finds © with entity ©
• em dash → finds — with entity —
• euro → finds € with entity €
• bullet → finds • with entities • and •
• left angle → finds « with entity « and ‹ with ‹
• ellipsis → finds … with entity …
• pilcrow → finds ¶ with entity ¶
• registered → finds ® with entity ®

The search is case-insensitive and handles partial matches. If you're not sure of the exact name, searching for a keyword in the description usually finds the right character.

Results are ranked by relevance: exact name matches appear first, followed by partial name matches, followed by characters that have the search term in a description or alias. When multiple characters match — for example, searching plus returns the ordinary plus sign, mathematical plus sign, circled plus, heavy plus, and several others — the results are displayed as a scrollable grid.

Search by Pasting the Character

Click the character input area and paste (or type) the character directly. This is the fastest path when you have the character at hand but don't know its entity code.

For example: - Paste ™ → immediately shows ™ (named), ™ (decimal), ™ (hex) - Paste → → shows →, →, → - Paste " → shows “, “, “

For characters without named entities — the majority of Unicode — the finder shows "no named entity" and offers the numeric forms only: - Paste ★ → "No named entity" + ★ + ★

This is expected behavior: the HTML5 specification names only a curated subset of characters. Numeric references work for every Unicode character regardless of whether a named entity exists.

Search by Code Point

Enter a Unicode code point in any of the supported formats:

• U+2603 or 2603 → snowman ☃ (named entity: &snowman;, decimal: ☃, hex: ☃)
• 169 (decimal code point) → © copyright sign
• 0x00A9 or 0xA9 → same © copyright sign via hex

The tool normalizes all these input forms and resolves them to the same character. If a named entity exists for that code point, it appears highlighted at the top of the results. Numeric forms are always shown regardless.

Output Formats

For each character found, the Entity Finder shows three entity representations plus the raw character:

Named Entity

The human-readable entity name defined in the HTML5 specification, formatted with ampersand and semicolon:

&copy;    <!-- © COPYRIGHT SIGN -->
&mdash;   <!-- — EM DASH -->
&euro;    <!-- € EURO SIGN -->
&amp;     <!-- & AMPERSAND (must always be escaped in HTML) -->
&lt;      <!-- < LESS-THAN SIGN (must be escaped in HTML) -->
&gt;      <!-- > GREATER-THAN SIGN (should be escaped in HTML) -->
&nbsp;    <!-- non-breaking space U+00A0 -->

Named entities are preferred for readability and documentation clarity. However, they only exist for a subset of characters, and a small number of named entities (including &, <, >, and ") are required for correct HTML.

Decimal Numeric Reference

The numeric character reference using the decimal code point value:

&#169;    <!-- © -->
&#8212;   <!-- — -->
&#8364;   <!-- € -->
&#9733;   <!-- ★ (no named entity) -->

Decimal numeric references work for every Unicode character. They're slightly more human-readable than hex for values you know — © is recognizable if you know 169 is the decimal for © — but for most purposes hex is preferred.

Hex Numeric Reference

The numeric character reference using the hexadecimal code point value, prefixed with x:

&#xA9;    <!-- © -->
&#x2014;  <!-- — -->
&#x20AC;  <!-- € -->
&#x2605;  <!-- ★ (no named entity) -->

Hex references are preferred for consistency with how Unicode code points are conventionally written (U+2014 and — differ only in the U+ versus &#x prefix and the closing semicolon). Hex references are easier to cross-reference with Unicode documentation and tools.

Raw Character

The plain Unicode character, displayed in a large tile, with a one-click copy button. Sometimes all you need is the character itself — pasted directly into your HTML source — without any escaping. The raw character is valid in modern UTF-8 HTML for characters that don't require escaping.

Characters that must always be escaped in HTML and cannot be used raw: - & → must be & - < → must be < - > → should be > (required in some contexts) - " in attribute values → must be " or "

For all other characters, using the raw UTF-8 character in UTF-8 HTML is valid and often preferable for readability.

Filtering by Category

Below the search field, a category filter bar lets you browse entities by character type without searching for a specific character. Categories include:

Punctuation — common punctuation marks: dashes, quotes, ellipsis, guillemets, brackets. Useful for finding typographic punctuation you want to use correctly: ‘ and ’ for curly single quotes, “ and ” for curly double quotes, … for ellipsis.

Mathematics — mathematical operators and symbols: × (×), ÷ (÷), ± (±), ∑ (∑), √ (√), ∞ (∞). Useful for typesetting equations and scientific content.

Currency — currency symbols with named entities: € (€), £ (£), ¥ (¥), ¢ (¢). Only a handful of currencies have named entities; the rest are available via numeric references.

Arrows — directional arrows: ← (←), → (→), ↑ (↑), ↓ (↓), ↔ (↔), ↵ (↵). Used in navigation, UI annotations, and mathematical notation.

Symbols — miscellaneous symbols with entity names: © (©), ® (®), ™ (™), ♥ (♥), ♠ (♠), ♣ (♣), ♦ (♦).

Letters — special letter forms: ß (ß), ð (ð), þ (þ), à (à), and the full range of accented and diacritical letters with named entity equivalents.

Spaces — different space characters, all invisible:   (non-breaking space),   (thin space),   (en space),   (em space). Understanding these helps you apply appropriate spacing in HTML without resorting to visual tricks.

Clicking a category populates the results grid with all entities in that category. You can then search within the category results using the search field to narrow further.

Copy to Clipboard

Every result card has three copy buttons — one for each entity format (named, decimal, hex) — plus a copy button for the raw character. Each button copies its specific format to the clipboard and shows a brief "Copied" confirmation.

A "Copy All Formats" option at the top of each result card copies all three entity forms plus the character as a formatted block, useful for pasting into documentation or reference comments in code:

© U+00A9 COPYRIGHT SIGN
Named:   ©
Decimal: ©
Hex:     ©

CSS content Property Integration

The HTML Entity Finder includes a CSS escape field alongside the entity forms. When you're using the CSS content property on pseudo-elements, HTML entities don't work — you need CSS escape syntax:

/* WRONG — HTML entity doesn't work in CSS */
.icon::before {
  content: "→";
}

/* CORRECT — CSS escape syntax */
.icon::before {
  content: "\2192"; /* → RIGHT-POINTING ARROW */
}

The CSS escape shown by the finder is formatted correctly for the content property: a backslash followed by the hex code point, with a trailing space when needed to prevent the next character from being interpreted as a continuation of the escape sequence.

For a more complete view of encoding formats including CSS escapes, Python literals, and JSON escapes, the Encoding Converter at /tools/encoding-converter/ shows all formats simultaneously.

Common Entity Quick Reference

Some entities come up constantly in web development. Here's a quick reference for the most frequently needed ones:

When to Use Each Format

Use named entities when readability matters — in documentation, code comments, and templates where a developer will read the source. © is immediately recognizable; © requires you to know the code point.

Use hex numeric references when no named entity exists, or in contexts where you want a consistent format throughout. Hex references are preferred in XML (which has a smaller named entity set than HTML), XHTML, and SVG.

Use decimal numeric references rarely — they're equivalent to hex but harder to cross-reference with Unicode documentation.

Use the raw character when your editor, file format, and toolchain all support UTF-8 reliably and the character doesn't require escaping. Modern HTML5 in UTF-8 encoding doesn't require escaping of most characters. The <, >, & characters and double quotes in attribute values still require escaping regardless.

The HTML Entity Finder handles all of these cases and puts the format you need one click away. For broader encoding conversion needs — including CSS escapes, Python string literals, and UTF-8 byte sequences — combine the Entity Finder with the Encoding Converter at /tools/encoding-converter/.