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.
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 + 0038 |
| 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 > Symbol > More Symbols…” menu in Office documents. When the “Symbol” utility pops up, type 0026 in the “Character code” box and press enter to find the & sign.
- 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 apps, go to “Edit > Insert Emoji & Symbols” menu to open Character Viewer. Type “ampersand” in the search box to find the symbols and insert in your document.
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.
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