& indicates the beginning of a code

# means that the code is a number

X means that the number is in Hexadecimal format

266D is the hexadecimal number for the character

; indicates the end of the code.

♭ prints the character      ♭

You can omit the X and use the decimal value for a character, for low numbers; but the html parsers lose track if the numbers get very big, and Hex is the standard for Unicode chars.

266D breaks down as:

      D = 13
      6*16 = 96
      6*16² = 1536
      2*16³ = 8192

So 266D Hex = 13+96+1536+8192 = 9837

Theoretically, some browsers might parse ♭ as ♭ but it's less reliable. (Actually nearly all browsers will handle Hex or decimal codes about equally well, but it's "impure" to use decimal ones?).

John