HTML Character Sets

In HTML, character sets, also known as character encodings, determine how characters are represented and interpreted by web browsers. They define the mapping between numerical values and specific characters in a character set. Here are some important concepts related to character sets in HTML:


1. Default Character Set:

The default character set for HTML documents is UTF-8 (Unicode Transformation Format 8-bit). UTF-8 can represent a wide range of characters from various languages and scripts, making it suitable for multilingual content. It is recommended to use UTF-8 as the default character set for HTML documents.


2. Specifying Character Set:

You can specify the character set for an HTML document using the `<meta>` element within the document's `<head>` section:

html
<meta charset="UTF-8">


3. Declarng Character Set in HTTP Headers:

In addition to specifying the character set within the HTML document, the character set can also be declared in the HTTP headers of the web server's response. This can be done using the `Content-Type` header field:

Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8


4. Character References:

HTML provides character references to represent characters that cannot be directly entered or displayed. Character references are expressed as entities starting with an ampersand (`&`) and ending with a semicolon (`;`). For example, `&lt;` represents the less-than symbol `<`.


5. HTML Entities:

HTML entities are predefined character references for special characters and symbols. They can be used to represent characters that have special meanings in HTML, such as `<` or `&`. For example, `&lt;` represents `<`, and `&amp;` represents `&`. Some common HTML entities include `&lt;` for `<`, `&gt;` for `>`, `&amp;` for `&`, and `&nbsp;` for a non-breaking space.


It is important to ensure that the declared character set in the HTML document or the HTTP headers matches the actual character encoding used for the document. Consistent and correct character encoding is crucial for proper display and interpretation of text content in different languages and scripts.



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