目录

HTML Encoding (Character Sets)


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!

Unicode Web growth

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.



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   Œ     Latin 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