Pilcrow Sign ¶

The Pilcrow Sign 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+00B6 in the Universal Character Set.

The pilcrow (¶), also called the paragraph sign, marks the beginning of a paragraph or is used as a reference mark. In word processors, it is the symbol for 'show formatting marks' that reveals invisible paragraph breaks. In legal and academic writing, it references specific paragraphs in cited documents.

Symbol entities encompass a wide variety of special characters used in legal disclaimers, intellectual property notices, typographic ornaments, card suit indicators, and miscellaneous notation throughout web content. These characters appear in website footers for copyright notices, product pages for trademark symbols, academic papers for dagger footnote markers, and decorative or gaming contexts for card suits and stars.

When deciding how to encode the Pilcrow Sign 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 pilcrow to reference specific paragraphs in legal and academic citations (¶ 42), as a decorative element in typography, or in text editor interfaces to represent paragraph marks. In web development, it sometimes appears as a link anchor next to headings for easy section referencing.