You have just received an email. All you see is some numbers like this:&# 931;&# 964;&# 945;
&# 949;&# 955;&# 955;&# 951;&# 957;&# 953;&# 954;&# 940;
&# 956;&# 960;&# 959;&# 961;&# 974; &# 957;&# 945;
&# 949;&# 954;&# 966;&# 961;&# 945;&# 963;&# 964;&# 974;
&# 954;&# 945;&# 955;&# 973;&# 964;&# 949;&# 961;&# 945;, &# 954;&# 945;&# 953;
&# 972;&# 960;&# 959;&# 965; &# 949;&# 943;&# 957;&# 945;&# 953;
&# 945;&# 957;&# 940;&# 947;&# 954;&# 951; &# 964;&# 945;
&# 967;&# 961;&# 951;&# 963;&# 953;&# 956;&# 959;&# 960;&# 959;&# 953;&# 974;.
(I have intentionally added an extra space after the # symbol otherwise they would be parsed by the browser as standard letters)
Is all hope lost? No!
Open your web page editor (Microsoft Frontpage / Dreamweaver) and paste it in the code. When you preview it the letters will appear.
Another method is to paste them to a txt file and change the extension to .html and then open it in a browser and just like magic standard characters will appear. Try it with the above text (remember to remove the extra space before all the # symbols)...
Here is a chart for the Greek numeric entities:
<!-- Latin Extended-B →
<!ENTITY fnof CDATA "&# 402;" -- latin small f with hook = function
= florin, U+0192 ISOtech →
<!-- Greek →
<!ENTITY Alpha CDATA "&# 913;" -- greek capital letter alpha, U+0391 →
<!ENTITY Beta CDATA "&# 914;" -- greek capital letter beta, U+0392 →
<!ENTITY Gamma CDATA "&# 915;" -- greek capital letter gamma,
U+0393 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Delta CDATA "&# 916;" -- greek capital letter delta,
U+0394 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Epsilon CDATA "&# 917;" -- greek capital letter epsilon, U+0395 →
<!ENTITY Zeta CDATA "&# 918;" -- greek capital letter zeta, U+0396 →
<!ENTITY Eta CDATA "&# 919;" -- greek capital letter eta, U+0397 →
<!ENTITY Theta CDATA "&# 920;" -- greek capital letter theta,
U+0398 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Iota CDATA "&# 921;" -- greek capital letter iota, U+0399 →
<!ENTITY Kappa CDATA "&# 922;" -- greek capital letter kappa, U+039A →
<!ENTITY Lambda CDATA "&# 923;" -- greek capital letter lambda,
U+039B ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Mu CDATA "&# 924;" -- greek capital letter mu, U+039C →
<!ENTITY Nu CDATA "&# 925;" -- greek capital letter nu, U+039D →
<!ENTITY Xi CDATA "&# 926;" -- greek capital letter xi, U+039E ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Omicron CDATA "&# 927;" -- greek capital letter omicron, U+039F →
<!ENTITY Pi CDATA "&# 928;" -- greek capital letter pi, U+03A0 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Rho CDATA "&# 929;" -- greek capital letter rho, U+03A1 →
<!-- there is no Sigmaf, and no U+03A2 character either →
<!ENTITY Sigma CDATA "&# 931;" -- greek capital letter sigma,
U+03A3 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Tau CDATA "&# 932;" -- greek capital letter tau, U+03A4 →
<!ENTITY Upsilon CDATA "&# 933;" -- greek capital letter upsilon,
U+03A5 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Phi CDATA "&# 934;" -- greek capital letter phi,
U+03A6 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Chi CDATA "&# 935;" -- greek capital letter chi, U+03A7 →
<!ENTITY Psi CDATA "&# 936;" -- greek capital letter psi,
U+03A8 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY Omega CDATA "&# 937;" -- greek capital letter omega,
U+03A9 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY alpha CDATA "&# 945;" -- greek small letter alpha,
U+03B1 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY beta CDATA "&# 946;" -- greek small letter beta, U+03B2 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY gamma CDATA "&# 947;" -- greek small letter gamma,
U+03B3 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY delta CDATA "&# 948;" -- greek small letter delta,
U+03B4 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY epsilon CDATA "&# 949;" -- greek small letter epsilon,
U+03B5 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY zeta CDATA "&# 950;" -- greek small letter zeta, U+03B6 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY eta CDATA "&# 951;" -- greek small letter eta, U+03B7 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY theta CDATA "&# 952;" -- greek small letter theta,
U+03B8 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY iota CDATA "&# 953;" -- greek small letter iota, U+03B9 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY kappa CDATA "&# 954;" -- greek small letter kappa,
U+03BA ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY lambda CDATA "&# 955;" -- greek small letter lambda,
U+03BB ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY mu CDATA "&# 956;" -- greek small letter mu, U+03BC ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY nu CDATA "&# 957;" -- greek small letter nu, U+03BD ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY xi CDATA "&# 958;" -- greek small letter xi, U+03BE ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY omicron CDATA "&# 959;" -- greek small letter omicron, U+03BF NEW →
<!ENTITY pi CDATA "&# 960;" -- greek small letter pi, U+03C0 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY rho CDATA "&# 961;" -- greek small letter rho, U+03C1 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY sigmaf CDATA "&# 962;" -- greek small letter final sigma,
U+03C2 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY sigma CDATA "&# 963;" -- greek small letter sigma,
U+03C3 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY tau CDATA "&# 964;" -- greek small letter tau, U+03C4 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY upsilon CDATA "&# 965;" -- greek small letter upsilon,
U+03C5 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY phi CDATA "&# 966;" -- greek small letter phi, U+03C6 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY chi CDATA "&# 967;" -- greek small letter chi, U+03C7 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY psi CDATA "&# 968;" -- greek small letter psi, U+03C8 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY omega CDATA "&# 969;" -- greek small letter omega,
U+03C9 ISOgrk3 →
<!ENTITY thetasym CDATA "&# 977;" -- greek small letter theta symbol,
U+03D1 NEW →
<!ENTITY upsih CDATA "&# 978;" -- greek upsilon with hook symbol,
U+03D2 NEW →
<!ENTITY piv CDATA "&# 982;" -- greek pi symbol, U+03D6 ISOgrk3 →