How to Find the HTML Code for a Special Character

You need to write © or → or € directly into HTML markup, and typing the literal character sometimes causes encoding issues depending on how the file is saved and served, so you want the safe HTML entity code instead — © or → or €. Or you’re working in CSS and need a character’s Unicode code point for a content property or an escape sequence. Each of these — HTML entity, Unicode code point, CSS escape — is a different representation of the same underlying character, useful in different contexts.

Memorizing entity codes for anything beyond the handful of extremely common ones (&, <, >) isn’t realistic, and looking each one up individually via search gets old fast if you’re doing it regularly.

What character code lookup actually involves

Every character has a Unicode code point — a unique numeric identifier, typically written as U+XXXX in hexadecimal — that uniquely identifies it regardless of context. From that code point, different representations exist for different uses: HTML has named entities (©) for common characters and numeric entities (© or ©) that work for any character, CSS has its own escape syntax for referencing a character by code point within stylesheets, and each of these formats serves a different practical purpose depending on where you’re actually using the character.

Looking up a specific character means going from “I have this character, or I know roughly what it looks like” to all of its relevant representations at once, rather than searching for each format separately.

Why people get stuck here

• Entity codes beyond the common few aren’t memorized. Everyone knows & and <; almost nobody has … or — memorized.
• Different contexts need different representations. The same character needs a different code format depending on whether you’re writing HTML, CSS, or working with raw Unicode data.
• Typing a special character directly can cause encoding problems. Depending on file encoding and how content gets processed downstream, a literal special character can sometimes render incorrectly, which entity codes avoid.
• Searching for each character individually is slow. Doing a separate web search for every special character you need, one at a time, adds up if you’re working with several.

What a good character code lookup looks like

Accepts the character directly

Being able to type or paste the actual character and get its codes back, rather than searching by description, is the most direct workflow.

Shows all the relevant formats at once

HTML entity (both named and numeric where applicable), Unicode code point, and CSS escape code together save you from looking up each format separately.

Works for the full range of special characters

Beyond a short list of the most common symbols, covering a broader set of Unicode characters makes the tool useful for less everyday needs too.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Typing a special character literally into HTML without considering encoding, which can occasionally cause the character to render incorrectly depending on file encoding and how the content is served.
• Confusing a named HTML entity with its numeric equivalent when one is required over the other in a specific context.
• Forgetting that CSS’s character escape syntax is different from HTML’s entity syntax — they’re not interchangeable formats.
• Searching for each character’s code individually via a general web search instead of using a dedicated reference tool, especially when working with several characters.

How to do it with Character Code Lookup

Online Tool Store’s Character Code Lookup finds a character’s codes entirely in your browser.

1. Type or paste the character you need.
2. See its HTML entity, Unicode code point, and CSS escape code together.
3. Copy whichever format matches your context.
4. Repeat for any other characters you need.

Because the lookup is instant, it’s faster than a separate web search for each individual character.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between a named and numeric HTML entity?

A named entity (like ©) is a memorable, human-readable name that only exists for a limited set of common characters; a numeric entity (like © or ©) works for any Unicode character by referencing its code point directly, making it the more universal option when a named entity doesn’t exist for what you need.

Why not just type the special character directly into my HTML?

You often can, and it works fine with correct file encoding (typically UTF-8) declared and used consistently — entity codes are more of a safety net for situations where encoding might not be handled correctly downstream, or when you specifically want the source code to remain plain ASCII for clarity or compatibility reasons.

Are HTML entities and CSS character codes the same format?

No — they use different escape syntaxes for referencing the same underlying character, so a code that works correctly in HTML markup won’t work directly in a CSS content property or similar context without converting to CSS’s specific escape format.

Final thought

Every special character has a stable underlying identity — its Unicode code point — and the various codes (HTML entity, CSS escape) are just different dialects for referencing that same identity in different contexts, which a single lookup can hand you all at once.

Try the free Character Code Lookup