HTML Special Chars

Less-Than Sign (<)

The less-than sign is reserved in HTML for opening markup tags. In raw text, always use < to ensure browsers do not interpret user input as an HTML element.

One-Click Copyable Code Formats

HTML Named Entity

<

HTML Decimal Code

<

HTML Hex Code

<

CSS content (\XXXX)

\003C

JavaScript Unicode (\uXXXX)

\u003C

URL Percent Encoded

%3C

Real-World Implementation Snippets

HTML5 Document

<p>Example: <</p>

CSS ::before / ::after

.badge::before {
  content: '\003C ';
}

React JSX / TypeScript

<span>{"\u003C"}</span>

Frequently Asked Questions

Less-Than Sign (<) HTML Entity FAQ

Common questions regarding HTML escape codes, CSS pseudo-elements, and browser character encoding.

The standard HTML named entity is "<". If using numeric codes, you can use the decimal code "<" or hex code "<".

Explore Other HTML Entities

View All HTML Entities Directory

Ampersand&

Greater-Than Sign>

Double Quotation Mark"

Single Quotation Mark / Apostrophe'

␣

Non-Breaking Space (NBSP) 