Common Desktop Environment: Help System Author's and Programmer's Guide

Special Character Tables

The following special characters can be inserted into text by typing the associated entity name in the position where the special character is to appear.

To use any of the entities whose description is marked with an * (asterisk), you must use the helpchar.ent file (see "Including Special Characters").

Table 6-1 Typographical Symbols

Symbol  

Entity Name 

Description 

©

©

Copyright symbol  

\256  

®

Registered symbol 

(TM)  

&tm;

Trademark symbol 

-

&endash;

En dash (short dash) 

--

&emdash;

Em dash (long dash) 

•

* Bullet 

 

&cr;

Carriage return 

...

&ellipsis;

Ellipsis (horizontal) 

....

&pellipsis;

Ellipsis (end-of-sentence) 

&vellipsis;

Vertical ellipsis 

'

&squote;

Single quote 

"

&dquote;

Double quote 

&vblank;

Vertical blank 

( )

∅

Empty (no text) 

( ) 

&sigspace;

Significant space 

-  

&sigdash;

Non line-breaking hyphen 

§

&S;

* Section 

&P;

* Paragraph 

Table 6-2 Greek Characters

Symbol  

Entity Name 

Description 

Lowercase Greek Letters

 

N/A  

α

* Lowercase Greek Alpha 

N/A 

β

* Lowercase Greek Beta 

N/A 

χ

* Lowercase Greek Chi 

N/A 

δ

* Lowercase Greek Delta 

N/A 

ϵ

* Alternate lowercase Greek Epsilon 

N/A 

φ

* Lowercase Greek Phi 

N/A 

ϕ

* Open lowercase Greek Phi 

N/A 

γ

* Lowercase Greek Gamma 

N/A 

η

* Lowercase Greek Eta 

N/A 

ι

* Lowercase Greek Iota 

N/A 

κ

* Lowercase Greek Kappa 

N/A 

λ

*Lowercase Greek Lambda 

N/A 

μ

* Lowercase Greek Mu 

N/A 

ν

* Lowercase Greek Nu 

N/A 

π

* Lowercase Greek Pi 

N/A 

ϖ

* Alternate lowercase Greek Pi (or Omega) 

N/A 

θ

* Lowercase Greek Theta  

N/A 

ϑ

* Open lowercase Greek Theta 

N/A 

ρ

* Lowercase Greek Rho 

N/A 

N/A

* Lowercase Greek Sigma 

N/A 

&tsigma;

* Lowercase Greek Sigma1 

N/A 

τ

* Lowercase Greek Tau 

N/A 

υ

* Lowercase Greek Upsilon 

N/A 

ω

* Lowercase Greek Omega 

N/A 

ξ

* Lowercase Greek Xi  

N/A 

ψ

* Lowercase Greek Psi 

N/A 

ζ

* Lowercase Greek Zeta  

Uppercase Greek Letters

 

N/A 

&Udelta;

* Uppercase Greek Delta 

N/A 

&Uphi;

* Uppercase Greek Phi 

N/A 

&Ugamma;

* Uppercase Greek Gamma 

N/A 

&Ulambda;

* Uppercase Greek Lambda 

N/A 

&Upi;

* Uppercase Greek Pi 

N/A 

&Utheta;

* Uppercase Greek Theta 

N/A 

&Usigma;

* Uppercase Greek Sigma 

N/A 

&Uupsilon;

* Uppercase Greek Upsilon 

N/A 

&Uomega;

* Uppercase Greek Omega 

N/A 

&Uxi;

* Uppercase Greek Xi 

N/A 

ϒ

* Uppercase Greek Psi  

Table 6-3 Math Symbols

Symbol  

Entity Name  

Description  

Basic Math Symbols 

 

-  

−

Minus 

+-  

±

Plus over minus 

/

÷

Divide 

x  

×

Multiply 

<=  

&leq;

Less than or equal to 

>=  

&geq;

Greater than or equal to 

[ne ]  

&neq;

Not equal to 

Advanced Math Symbols

 

2

&squared;

* Squared 

3

&cubed;

* Cubed 

1/4  

&one-fourth;

* One-fourth 

1/2 

&one-half;

* One-half 

3/4 

&three-fourths;

* Three-fourths 

[infin ]  

&infty;

* Infinity 

N/A 

&equiv;

* Exactly equals 

[ne ] 

&not-eq;

* Not equal to 

[ap ] 

&approx;

* Approximate sign 

ÿ 

&neg;

* Not 

« 

&cap;

* Cap (Set intersection) 

» 

&cup;

* Cup (Set union) 

&vee;

* Vee (Logical OR) 

&wedge;

* Wedge (Logical AND) 

N/A 

&in;

* In 

N/A 

&subset;

* Proper subset 

N/A 

&subseteq;

* Subset 

N/A 

&supset;

* Proper superset 

N/A 

&supseteq;

* Superset 

[forall] 

&forall;

* For all (Universal symbol) 

[exist ] 

&exists;

* There exists (Existential symbol) 

N/A 

&not-in;

Not element 

N/A 

&function;

* Function symbol (or florin sign) 

N/A 

&angle;

* Angle 

[cong ] 

&cong;

* Congruent 

N/A 

&propto;

* Proportional to 

N/A 

&perp;

* Perpendicular to 

· 

&cdot;

* Centered dot 

N/A 

&oplus;

* Plus in circle 

N/A 

&otimes;

* Times in circle 

ø  

&oslash;

* Slash in circle (Empty set) 

N/A 

&partial;

* Partial differential delta  

N/A 

&sum;

* Summation (Uppercase Greek Sigma) 

x  

&prod;

* Product (Uppercase Greek Pi)  

Table 6-4 Arrow Symbols

Symbol  

Entity Name 

Description 

<-

&leftarrow;

* Left arrow 

N/A 

&rightarrow;

* Right arrow 

N/A 

&uparrow;

* Up arrow 

N/A 

&downarrow;

* Down arrow 

N/A 

&leftrightarrow;

* Left/right arrow 

<=  

&bigleftarrow;

* Big left arrow 

=> 

&bigrightarrow;

* Big right arrow 

N/A 

&biguparrow;

* Big up arrow 

N/A 

&bigdownarrow;

* Big down arrow 

N/A 

&bigleftrightarrow;

* Big left/right arrow  

Table 6-5 Miscellaneous Symbols

Symbol  

Entity Name 

Description 

Current Date and Time 

 

//

&date;

Today's date (when HelpTag is run) 

09:50

&time;

Current time (when HelpTag is run)  

Currency Symbols 

 

¢ 

&cents;

Cents 

£ 

&sterling;

Sterling 

¥ 

&yen;

Yen 

Units 

 

o  

&deg;

Degrees 

N/A 

&minutes;

Minutes, prime, or feet 

&seconds;

Seconds, double prime, or inches 

AM

&a.m.;

AM 

PM

&p.m.;

PM 

Card Suits

 

[loz ]  

&diamondsuit;

* Diamond suit 

N/A 

&heartsuit;

* Heart suit 

N/A 

&spadesuit;

* Spade suit 

N/A 

&clubsuit;

* Club suit  

Other Symbols 

 

[loz ]  

&diamond;

* Diamond 

¿  

&invert-question;

Inverted question mark 

¡  

&invert exclamation;

Inverted exclamation mark 

¤  

&currency;

Currency 

N/A 

&therefore;

Therefore 

«  

&openanglequote;

Open angle quotes 

»  

&closeanglequote;

Close angle quotes 

N/A 

&aleph;

* Hebrew Aleph 

[nabla ] 

&nabla;

* Nabla (Inverted uppercase Greek Delta) 

N/A 

&surd;

Radical segment, diagonal 

N/A 

&wp;

* Weierstraussain symbol 

N/A 

&Re;

* Fraktur R 

N/A 

&im;

* Fraktur I