&
Ampersand
- Unicode
- U+0026
- Category
- Punctuation
- HTML Entity
- &
- CSS
- \0026
The ampersand (&) is a ligature of the Latin word "et", meaning "and": in many typefaces you can still see the e and the t inside it. Its English name is a slurred "and per se and", the phrase schoolchildren recited when & was taught as the last letter of the alphabet. It is used in company names (Johnson & Johnson), fixed pairs (R&D, rock & roll) and wherever space is short; in running text the word "and" is still preferred.
On a US keyboard & is Shift+7. On an iPhone and on Android it is on the first symbols page.
On a US keyboard & is Shift+7. On an iPhone and on Android it is on the first symbols page.
How to Type
- Windows
- Shift+7 (US) · Alt+38
- macOS
- Shift+7
- Linux
- Shift+7 · Ctrl+Shift+U 26
- HTML
- &
In Programming
In HTML & opens every character entity, so a literal ampersand must be written & or it can break the markup. In URLs it separates query parameters (?a=1&b=2). In C-family languages & is bitwise AND and && logical AND; in C and C++ & takes an address or declares a reference. In Unix shells a trailing & runs a command in the background, and in Sass & refers to the parent selector.
Tags
ampersand
and symbol
and sign
et ligature
alt 38
shift 7
amp
keyboard symbol
ascii