Left-to-Right Mark ‎

The Left-to-Right Mark character (‎) is a standard HTML entity defined in the HTML specification. In HTML source code, it can be written using the named entity reference ‎, the decimal numeric character reference ‎, or the hexadecimal numeric reference ‎. The character is assigned Unicode code point U+200E in the Universal Character Set.

The left-to-right mark is an invisible Unicode control character that forces left-to-right text directionality at its position. It is essential when mixing left-to-right scripts (Latin, Cyrillic) with right-to-left scripts (Arabic, Hebrew) in bidirectional text, resolving ambiguities in the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm.

Punctuation and whitespace entities are among the most frequently used HTML entities in web development. They handle characters that either have special meaning in HTML syntax — such as angle brackets and ampersands — or represent typographic characters that improve the visual quality of text, like em dashes and curly quotes. Proper use of punctuation entities is essential for producing valid, well-formed HTML documents and achieving professional-looking typography on the web.

When deciding how to encode the Left-to-Right Mark character in your HTML documents, the named entity ‎ is generally the most readable choice for developers reviewing or maintaining source code. The decimal form ‎ and hexadecimal form ‎ are equally valid alternatives that work in contexts where named entities may not be supported, or when generating HTML output programmatically from server-side code. All three representations produce identical visual output in every modern web browser.

Use the left-to-right mark when embedding LTR text within RTL content, or when neutral characters like punctuation and numbers appear at the boundary between LTR and RTL text. It prevents incorrect reordering of characters by the browser's bidirectional text algorithm. For most LTR-only content, it is not needed.