<
< Less Than Sign
The less-than sign (<) states that the value on its left is smaller than the value on its right.
Also known as: less than sign, less than symbol, is less than.
Codes
| Symbol | < | |
| Unicode | U+003C | |
| HTML entity (named) | < | |
| HTML entity (decimal) | < | |
| HTML entity (hex) | < | |
| CSS | \003C | |
| LaTeX | < |
How to type < (Less Than Sign)
WindowsShift + ,
Press Shift and the comma key — < sits above the comma on a US/UK keyboard. No Alt code needed.
Mac⇧ + ,
Press Shift and the comma key.
Microsoft WordShift + ,
Type it directly. In an Equation field, < renders with proper math spacing.
Google Docs
Type it directly with Shift + comma — or inside an Equation type < (\lt also works).
LaTeX<
Type < directly in math mode. Outside math mode it may render as ¡ in some font encodings — wrap it as $<$ or use \textless.
Usage
- 3 < 5 reads “3 is less than 5”. The pointed end always faces the smaller number.
- A classroom mnemonic: the sign is an open mouth that always eats the bigger number.
- In HTML you must escape it: write < in text, or the browser will read < as the start of a tag. This is the single most common escaping bug in hand-written HTML.
- For “less than or equal to”, use ≤ (U+2264).