HTML Encoding (Character

Sets)
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To display an HTML page correctly, a web browser must know which

character set to use.

The HTML charset Attribute

The character set is specified in the <meta> tag:

Example
<meta charset="UTF-8">

The HTML5 specification encourages web developers to use the UTF-8 character
set.

UTF-8 covers almost all of the characters and symbols in the world!
Full UTF-8 Reference

The ASCII Character Set

ASCII was the first character encoding standard for the web. It defined 128
different characters that could be used on the internet:

 English letters (A-Z)

 Numbers (0-9)
 Special characters like ! $ + - ( ) @ < >.

The ANSI Character Set

ANSI (Windows-1252) was the original Windows character set:

 Identical to ASCII for the first 127 characters

 Special characters from 128 to 159
 Identical to UTF-8 from 160 to 255
<meta charset="Windows-1252">

The ISO-8859-1 Character Set

ISO-8859-1 was the default character set for HTML 4. This character set
supported 256 different character codes. HTML 4 also supported UTF-8.

 Identical to ASCII for the first 127 characters

 Does not use the characters from 128 to 159
 Identical to ANSI and UTF-8 from 160 to 255

HTML 4 Example
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-
8859-1">

HTML 5 Example
<meta charset="ISO-8859-1">

The UTF-8 Character Set

 is identical to ASCII for the values from 0 to 127
 Does not use the characters from 128 to 159
 Identical to ANSI and 8859-1 from 160 to 255
 Continues from the value 256 to 10 000 characters

<meta charset="UTF-8">

Full HTML Character Set Reference.

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Differences Between Character Sets

The following table displays the differences between the character sets
described above:

Numb ASCII ANSI 8859 UTF-8 Description

32 space

33 ! ! ! ! exclamation mark

34 " " " " quotation mark

35 # # # # number sign

36 $ $ $ $ dollar sign

37 % % % % percent sign

38 & & & & ampersand

39 ' ' ' ' apostrophe

40 ( ( ( ( left parenthesis

41 ) ) ) ) right parenthesis
42 * * * * asterisk

43 + + + + plus sign

44 , , , , comma

45 - - - - hyphen-minus

46 . . . . full stop

47 / / / / solidus

48 0 0 0 0 digit zero

49 1 1 1 1 digit one

50 2 2 2 2 digit two

51 3 3 3 3 digit three
52 4 4 4 4 digit four

53 5 5 5 5 digit five

54 6 6 6 6 digit six

55 7 7 7 7 digit seven

56 8 8 8 8 digit eight

57 9 9 9 9 digit nine

58 : : : : colon

59 ; ; ; ; semicolon

60 < < < < less than

61 = = = = equals sign

62 > > > > greater than

63 ? ? ? ? question mark

64 @ @ @ @ commercial at

65 A A A A Latin A

66 B B B B Latin B

67 C C C C Latin C

68 D D D D Latin D

69 E E E E Latin E

70 F F F F Latin F

71 G G G G Latin G

72 H H H H Latin H

73 I I I I Latin I
74 J J J J Latin J

75 K K K K Latin K

76 L L L L Latin L

77 M M M M Latin M

78 N N N N Latin N

79 O O O O Latin O

80 P P P P Latin P

81 Q Q Q Q Latin Q

82 R R R R Latin R

83 S S S S Latin S

84 T T T T Latin T
85 U U U U Latin U

86 V V V V Latin V

87 W W W W Latin W

88 X X X X Latin X

89 Y Y Y Y Latin Y

90 Z Z Z Z Latin Z

91 [ [ [ [ left square bracket

92 \ \ \ \ reverse solidus

93 ] ] ] ] right square bracket

94 ^ ^ ^ ^ circumflex accent

95 _ _ _ _ low line
96 ` ` ` ` grave accent

97 a a a a Latin small a

98 b b b b Latin small b

99 c c c c Latin small c

100 d d d d Latin small d

101 e e e e Latin small e

102 f f f f Latin small f

103 g g g g Latin small g

104 h h h h Latin small h

105 i i i i Latin small i

106 j j j j Latin small j

107 k k k k Latin small k

108 l l l l Latin small l

109 m m m m Latin small m

110 n n n n Latin small n

111 o o o o Latin small o

112 p p p p Latin small p

113 q q q q Latin small q

114 r r r r Latin small r

115 s s s s Latin small s

116 t t t t Latin small t

117 u u u u Latin small u

118 v v v v Latin small v

119 w w w w Latin small w

120 x x x x Latin small x

121 y y y y Latin small y

122 z z z z Latin small z

123 { { { { left curly bracket

124 | | | | vertical line

125 } } } } right curly bracket

126 ~ ~ ~ ~ tilde

127 DEL

128 € euro sign

129    NOT USED

130 ‚ single low-9 quotation mark

131 ƒ Latin small f with hook

132 „ double low-9 quotation mark

133 … horizontal ellipsis

134 † dagger

135 ‡ double dagger

136 ˆ modifier letter circumflex accent

137 ‰ per mille sign

138 Š Latin S with caron

139 ‹ single left-pointing angle quotation mark

140 ΠLatin capital ligature OE

141    NOT USED

142 Ž Latin Z with caron

143    NOT USED

144    NOT USED

145 ‘ left single quotation mark

146 ’ right single quotation mark

147 “ left double quotation mark

148 ” right double quotation mark

149 • bullet

150 – en dash
151 — em dash

152 ˜ small tilde

153 ™ trade mark sign

154 š Latin small s with caron

155 › single right-pointing angle quotation mark

156 œ Latin small ligature oe

157    NOT USED

158 ž Latin small z with caron

159 Ÿ Latin Y with diaeresis

160 no-break space

161 ¡ ¡ ¡ inverted exclamation mark

162 ¢ ¢ ¢ cent sign

163 £ £ £ pound sign

164 ¤ ¤ ¤ currency sign

165 ¥ ¥ ¥ yen sign

166 ¦ ¦ ¦ broken bar

167 § § § section sign

168 ¨ ¨ ¨ diaeresis

169 © © © copyright sign

170 ª ª ª feminine ordinal indicator

171 « « « left-pointing double angle quotation mark

172 ¬ ¬ ¬ not sign

173 soft hyphen

174 ® ® ® registered sign

175 ¯ ¯ ¯ macron

176 ° ° ° degree sign

177 ± ± ± plus-minus sign

178 ² ² ² superscript two

179 ³ ³ ³ superscript three

180 ´ ´ ´ acute accent

181 µ µ µ micro sign

182 ¶ ¶ ¶ pilcrow sign

183 · · · middle dot

184 ¸ ¸ ¸ cedilla

185 ¹ ¹ ¹ superscript one

186 º º º masculine ordinal indicator

187 » » » right-pointing double angle quotation mark

188 ¼ ¼ ¼ vulgar fraction one quarter

189 ½ ½ ½ vulgar fraction one half

190 ¾ ¾ ¾ vulgar fraction three quarters

191 ¿ ¿ ¿ inverted question mark

192 À À À Latin A with grave

193 Á Á Á Latin A with acute

194 Â Â Â Latin A with circumflex

195 Ã Ã Ã Latin A with tilde

196 Ä Ä Ä Latin A with diaeresis

197 Å Å Å Latin A with ring above

198 Æ Æ Æ Latin AE

199 Ç Ç Ç Latin C with cedilla

200 È È È Latin E with grave

201 É É É Latin E with acute

202 Ê Ê Ê Latin E with circumflex

203 Ë Ë Ë Latin E with diaeresis

204 Ì Ì Ì Latin I with grave

205 Í Í Í Latin I with acute

206 Î Î Î Latin I with circumflex

207 Ï Ï Ï Latin I with diaeresis

208 Ð Ð Ð Latin Eth

209 Ñ Ñ Ñ Latin N with tilde

210 Ò Ò Ò Latin O with grave

211 Ó Ó Ó Latin O with acute

212 Ô Ô Ô Latin O with circumflex

213 Õ Õ Õ Latin O with tilde

214 Ö Ö Ö Latin O with diaeresis

215 × × × multiplication sign

216 Ø Ø Ø Latin O with stroke

217 Ù Ù Ù Latin U with grave

218 Ú Ú Ú Latin U with acute

219 Û Û Û Latin U with circumflex

220 Ü Ü Ü Latin U with diaeresis

221 Ý Ý Ý Latin Y with acute

222 Þ Þ Þ Latin Thorn

223 ß ß ß Latin small sharp s

224 à à à Latin small a with grave

225 á á á Latin small a with acute

226 â â â Latin small a with circumflex

227 ã ã ã Latin small a with tilde

228 ä ä ä Latin small a with diaeresis

229 å å å Latin small a with ring above

230 æ æ æ Latin small ae

231 ç ç ç Latin small c with cedilla

232 è è è Latin small e with grave

233 é é é Latin small e with acute

234 ê ê ê Latin small e with circumflex

235 ë ë ë Latin small e with diaeresis

236 ì ì ì Latin small i with grave

237 í í í Latin small i with acute

238 î î î Latin small i with circumflex

239 ï ï ï Latin small i with diaeresis

240 ð ð ð Latin small eth

241 ñ ñ ñ Latin small n with tilde

242 ò ò ò Latin small o with grave

243 ó ó ó Latin small o with acute

244 ô ô ô Latin small o with circumflex

245 õ õ õ Latin small o with tilde

246 ö ö ö Latin small o with diaeresis

247 ÷ ÷ ÷ division sign

248 ø ø ø Latin small o with stroke

249 ù ù ù Latin small u with grave

250 ú ú ú Latin small u with acute

251 û û û Latin small with circumflex

252 ü ü ü Latin small u with diaeresis

253 ý ý ý Latin small y with acute

254 þ þ þ Latin small thorn

255 ÿ ÿ ÿ Latin small y with diaeresis