Markdown passes most Unicode characters through directly — you can type or paste them into your source file and they will appear in the output. For characters that are difficult to type, or where you need precise control, HTML entities offer an alternative notation.
Typing Characters Directly
The simplest approach is to paste the character into your source. Modern editors and operating systems support this for accented letters, currency symbols, and common punctuation marks.
The price is £12.99 — great value for a one-day workshop.
© 2026 Green Meadow Bakery. All rights reserved.
The price is £12.99 — great value for a one-day workshop.
© 2026 Green Meadow Bakery. All rights reserved.
HTML Entities
An HTML entity is a code that represents a character. Entities begin with & and end with ;. They are useful when the character is hard to type, looks ambiguous in source, or needs to be kept consistent regardless of keyboard layout.
© 2026 Green Meadow Bakery
™ is the trade mark symbol.
Prices start from £12.99 — excellent value.
Use a non-breaking space between a number and its unit: 500 g of flour.
© 2026 Green Meadow Bakery
™ is the trade mark symbol.
Prices start from £12.99 — excellent value.
Use a non-breaking space between a number and its unit: 500 g of flour.
Commonly Used Entities
| Character | Entity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| © | © |
Copyright symbol |
| ™ | ™ |
Trade mark symbol |
| ® | ® |
Registered trade mark |
| — | — |
Em dash (sentence punctuation) |
| – | – |
En dash (ranges, e.g. pages 12–15) |
| … | … |
Ellipsis |
|
Non-breaking space | |
| £ | £ |
Pound sterling |
| € | € |
Euro |
| ¥ | ¥ |
Japanese yen |
| × | × |
Multiplication sign |
| ÷ | ÷ |
Division sign |
| ½ | ½ |
One half |
| ¼ | ¼ |
One quarter |
| ¾ | ¾ |
Three quarters |
Best Practice
- Prefer pasting Unicode characters directly over entities where your editor supports it — direct characters are easier to read in source.
- Use
(non-breaking space) between a number and its unit (e.g.500 ml) to prevent a line break splitting them across lines in the output. - Use
—and–if your keyboard or editor does not provide easy access to real em/en dashes. Both render identically to the pasted character. - Do not use entity codes for ordinary letters and apostrophes — reserve them for genuinely tricky or ambiguous characters.
Notes
Numeric Character References
HTML also supports numeric references using decimal or hexadecimal values. These work in Markdown the same way as named entities.
© is the copyright symbol (decimal reference).
© is the same symbol (hexadecimal reference).
Output Format Considerations
Named HTML entities are reliable in HTML and EPUB output. In PDF output (via Typst or LaTeX), entity rendering depends on the pipeline. Direct Unicode characters are the safest choice for multi-format publishing.
Markdown Flavour Support
HTML entities are part of HTML, not Markdown. Any Markdown processor that produces HTML output will pass them through correctly.
Flavour Support Detail
| Flavour | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Original Markdown | Yes | HTML pass-through; entities rendered by the browser. |
| CommonMark | Yes | Named and numeric entities both explicitly supported. |
| GitHub Flavored Markdown | Yes | Full entity support. |
| Pandoc Markdown | Yes | Entities supported in HTML and EPUB; direct Unicode recommended for PDF. |
Practical Examples
- Adding a copyright line to a craft tutorial blog: The copyright symbol and em dash make a tidy, professional byline.
© 2026 The Woolly Workshop — all patterns are for personal use only.
© 2026 The Woolly Workshop — all patterns are for personal use only.
- Listing ingredient quantities in a recipe without awkward line breaks: Non-breaking spaces keep numbers and units together on the same line.
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 300 ml whole milk
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 300 ml whole milk
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder