Pound Sign £

The Pound 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+00A3 in the Universal Character Set.

The pound sign is the currency symbol for the British pound sterling (GBP), one of the oldest currencies still in active use. It is also used by Egypt, Lebanon, and several other countries. The symbol derives from the Latin word libra (pound weight). As part of the Latin-1 character set, it has universal rendering support.

Currency symbol entities are essential for e-commerce platforms, financial dashboards, and any web content that displays monetary values across different markets. Using the correct HTML entity or Unicode code point ensures that currency symbols render consistently regardless of the visitor's operating system, installed fonts, or browser configuration. For international websites, properly encoded currency entities enable accurate localization of prices and financial data.

When deciding how to encode the Pound 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 pound sign entity in pricing for British and other pound-denominated markets, financial reports, and international e-commerce sites. The entity form is particularly important when the page's character encoding might not support the £ character directly, or in generated HTML output.