Title: HTML Special Characters?
Last modified: December 22, 2020

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# HTML Special Characters?

 *  Resolved [Engine44](https://wordpress.org/support/users/engine44/)
 * (@engine44)
 * [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html-special-characters/)
 * I just came across the term “HTML Special Characters”. When I type HTML, I use
   tags that include left and right arrows: <br>. Apparently, these arrows also 
   can also be represented with special codes. Why would I ever want or need to 
   use these codes. Typing < or > is much easier. Thanks.
    -  This topic was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by [Engine44](https://wordpress.org/support/users/engine44/).
    -  This topic was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by [Engine44](https://wordpress.org/support/users/engine44/).

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [Vlad](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vladytimy/)
 * (@vladytimy)
 * [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html-special-characters/#post-13823821)
 * Hi, [@engine44](https://wordpress.org/support/users/engine44/)
 * Let’s take 2 examples and what is the result for each of them
 * `<br>` will result in a new line
 * but what if you actually want to output the characters `<br>` without being converted/
   interpreted by browser as a tag? Well, then you’ll use special characters:
 * `& lt; br & gt;` (without spaces) will result in _<br>_ not in a new line.
 * Some characters are reserved in HTML. If you use the less than (<) or greater
   than (>) signs in your text, the browser might mix them with tags.
 * Character entities are used to display reserved characters in HTML.
 * So you use them only if you want to force the browser not to interpret them as
   a HTML tag, but as a character instead.
 * Hope this helps,
    Kind regards!
 *  Thread Starter [Engine44](https://wordpress.org/support/users/engine44/)
 * (@engine44)
 * [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html-special-characters/#post-13826489)
 * Thanks

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘HTML Special Characters?’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Everything else WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/miscellaneous/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Engine44](https://wordpress.org/support/users/engine44/)
 * Last activity: [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/html-special-characters/#post-13826489)
 * Status: resolved

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