Keyboard Shortcut for Ampersand Symbols

Ampersand is part of number 7 key on most of the general English keyboard layout. You can use “Shift + 7” keys to type & symbol. It is widely used for the purpose of “and” as well as in the escape entities to type special characters in HTML. In case, if your & key is not working or you want to type different ampersand like upside down ⅋, here are the keyboard shortcuts.

Related: Keyboard shortcuts for percentage sign.

Shortcuts Summary for Ampersand Symbol

Below table provides you the keyboard shortcuts for ampersand sign for various applications.

Symbol Name	Ampersand
Main Category	Alphanumeric
Sub Category	Keyboard
Alt Code Shortcut (Windows)	Alt 38
Alt + X (Word)	0026 Alt X
Alt Code Shortcut (Mac)*	Option 0026
HTML Entity Decimal	&
HTML Entity Hexadecimal	&
HTML Entity Name	&
CSS Value	\0026
JavaScript Escape String	\u0026
Decimal	38
Hexadecimal	0026
Unicode Point	U+0026

Let us explain how to use these shortcuts in the following sections.

Typing Ampersand in Windows

You have multiple ways to type & symbol in Windows based documents like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

• Hold alt key and type 0038 from the number pad on your keyboard to produce &.
• Alternatively, on Word documents you can type the hexadecimal code 0026 using normal number keys and then press alt and x keys. This will convert the code into & symbol for you.
• You can also insert & symbol from the “Insert > Symbols” menu in documents.
• Last option is to open Character Map app and search for ampersand symbol to insert on your documents.

Typing Ampersand in Mac

• On macOS, toggle the keyboard to Unicode Hex Input and type option + 0026 to make & symbol.
• Alternatively, press “Control + Command + Spacebar” to open Character Viewer utility. Search for & symbol under “Punctuation” group.
• When you are in Pages or other default apps, go to “Edit > Insert Emoji & Symbols” menu to open Character Viewer.

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Related: How to use keyboard viewer in Mac to find shortcuts visually?

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Insert Ampersand in HTML, CSS and JS

Ampersand is used as a modifier symbol in most of the web languages like PHP. So you can’t use the symbol just typing and you need to use escape string to differentiate & symbol from other part of the code.

• In HTML you can use HTML entity name & amp; or use decimal value like & # 38; or hexadecimal value like & # x0026; to type & symbol. Remember to use the shortcuts without any spaces.
• In CSS use the escape character \0026 and in JavaScript you can use \u0026 to make &.

Other Ampersand Unicode Symbols

There are also few other ampersand symbols in Unicode. Below is the list with alt and option code shortcuts for Windows and Mac respectively.

Symbol	Description	Windows	Mac
۽	Arabic Sign Sindhi Ampersand	Alt + 1789	Option + 06FD
⅋	Turned Ampersand	Alt + 8523	Option + 214B
﹠	Small Ampersand	Alt + 65120	Option + FE60
＆	Fullwidth Ampersand	Alt + 65286	Option + FF06

Browser Display

Below is the default display of ampersand in the browser:

Size and Font Variation

You can adjust the size and font of & symbols on your documents like other text content.