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HTML code for & symbol

Pravin M

Published in

Stackademic

3 min readOct 30, 2024

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The ampersand (&) symbol is a special character in HTML. Since the ampersand is used to denote the start of an HTML entity (a series of characters representing symbols or reserved characters), it cannot be used directly within the text of an HTML document. To display the ampersand symbol itself, you must use its HTML entity code.

Why Use an HTML Code for the Ampersand?

In HTML, the ampersand has a special function. It is used to signal the beginning of character entities, such as © for the copyright symbol or < for the less-than symbol. If you were to type an ampersand directly into an HTML document without using its corresponding HTML entity, the browser may misinterpret it as the start of a character entity, causing errors in your web page.

HTML Code for Ampersand

The HTML entity code for the ampersand symbol is &.

Example: Using the Ampersand Symbol in HTML

Here’s how to properly display the ampersand symbol in HTML using its entity code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Ampersand Symbol Example</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Using the Ampersand (&) in HTML</h1>
  
  <p>If you want to write "Tom & Jerry" in HTML, use this: Tom &amp; Jerry.</p>
  <p>This is how the ampersand symbol looks: &amp;.</p>
</body>
</html>

Explanation:

The & entity is used to represent the ampersand (&) in the HTML code. Without using &, the browser might mistake the ampersand for the start of an HTML entity, which can lead to incorrect rendering.
In the first paragraph, “Tom & Jerry” is displayed correctly by using & to represent the & symbol.

Displaying Multiple Ampersands

You can use the & code multiple times within your HTML document to represent multiple ampersands.

Example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta…