Overline ‾

The Overline 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+203E in the Universal Character Set.

The overline character is a horizontal line drawn above the text baseline, at the top of the character cell. It is the visual inverse of the underscore and is used in mathematical notation to indicate complementation, conjugation, or logical negation. In East Asian typography, it has additional uses as a punctuation mark.

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 Overline 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 overline character in mathematical and logical contexts to indicate negation or complementation. For decorative overlines on text, CSS text-decoration: overline is usually more appropriate. The entity is useful in inline mathematical expressions where CSS styling would be impractical.