# How do I display "\>" on a webpage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972 "2009-01-05T18:54:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/1 "2009-01-05T18:54:54Z")
So I found a reason to post the “\>” on a webpage, but how do I get it to appear without the browser thinking I’m using it as part of a tag? ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/2 "2009-01-05T18:56:45Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/3 "2009-01-05T18:58:24Z")
Two minutes. Jeez we’re getting sloppy in the new year. ---
**Author:** ![ruritanian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@ruritanian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruritanian)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/4 "2009-01-05T19:00:05Z")
try “\>” (without quotes) for “\>”. … and “\<” for “\<” edit: I’m assuming you’re editing directly the code. Otherwise some advanced editors may treat the input as text and display “\>” instead. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/5 "2009-01-05T19:02:39Z")
Awesome, thanks guys! (and two minutes, wow?) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/6 "2009-01-05T19:38:59Z")
> [@Strainger](#): > > > You have to put a semicolon on the end to make it valid: \> ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/7 "2009-01-05T19:58:05Z")
For anyone to whom it may not be immediately obvious, “gt” stands for “greater than” and “lt” stands for “less than.” ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/8 "2009-01-05T22:28:49Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > How do I display “\>” on a webpage? I know this has been answered already but I found this amusing. By posting this question you put “\>” on a website. You could have viewed source to answer your own question. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/9 "2009-01-05T22:45:17Z")
This is probably a dumb question, but what if I wanted to display \> on a website? On preview, and looking at the source, it appears I’d have to type \> So, am I correct in assuming the & means “I’m about to give you a special character”, and ; means “All done giving you the special character,”? (And that amp is used instead of & to display an &, and it’s done after the initial &?) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/10 "2009-01-05T23:43:12Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > So, am I correct in assuming the & means “I’m about to give you a special character”, and ; means “All done giving you the special character,”? (And that amp is used instead of & to display an &, and it’s done after the initial &?) Yeah. These doohickeys are called HTML _entities_ and there’s a whole [bunch](http://www.digitalmediaminute.com/reference/entity/index.php) of them. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/11 "2009-01-06T15:48:56Z")
Cool. Is there an easy way to use that form when posting on the Dope? For example, I’d use the Greek alphabet a lot more if I just had to type “β”, but that won’t show up as a beta. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-display-on-a-webpage/479972/12 "2009-01-06T16:16:05Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > Cool. Is there an easy way to use that form when posting on the Dope? For example, I’d use the Greek alphabet a lot more if I just had to type “β”, but that won’t show up as a beta. vBulletin automatically escapes &'s, meaning your entities like β will get converted to β. But: there’s an exception for ordinal entities of the form &#NNNN where NNNN is the Unicode codepoint of any character. So you can use &# 914 (without the space) to make Β. **Σ λ ϖ ‰ ϑ ω ψ** etc. ETA: The chart I linked above will show you the ordinal entities if you mouse over any character.