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