How to type ampersand (&)
Also called and sign, and symbol.
Hold Shift with your left little finger and press the 7 key with your right index finger. It is the same position on US and UK keyboards.
Which finger types &
- Finger
- Right index
- Resting position
- J on the home row
- Shift
- Required, held by the other hand
- Hand
- right
No website can detect which finger you actually used — a browser reports the character, not the hand that produced it. The finger above is the one the standard touch typing layout assigns, and it is the one the lessons here train.
What & is used for
- Means “and”, mainly in company names such as Marks & Spencer where the pairing is part of the name.
- Joins two conditions in C, Java, JavaScript and most languages descended from them, written &&.
- Starts an HTML entity: & is how you write a literal ampersand in HTML.
- Separates parameters in a web address after the question mark.
Where it comes from
It is a ligature — the letters e and t of the Latin “et”, meaning and, written joined. The name is a slurred sentence: the ampersand was once recited at the end of the alphabet as “and per se and”, meaning “and, by itself, and”. Say that quickly and you get ampersand.
The mistake people make
Reaching for 7 with the wrong hand. The Shift is held by the left little finger and the 7 is pressed by the right index finger — a genuine two-handed movement. Using the same hand for both forces the wrist to twist and is the habit that makes numbers and symbols slow for otherwise fast typists.
If the key is missing or gives the wrong character
- Windows: hold Alt and type 38 on the numeric keypad.
- In HTML, write & rather than a bare & to avoid breaking the markup.
Practise it properly
Knowing which finger owns a key is not the same as using it without thinking. The Typometer course blocks on the wrong key and names the finger for every one, so the habit forms rather than the knowledge.
Other keys
Related guides
Free, and no account needed.
- Start at level 1: the home rowFind F and J without looking, one key at a time.
- How to learn touch typingWhat actually works, what to ignore, and how long it takes.
- The full typing course415 levels from the home row to code and professional documents.
- Untimed typing practicePractise without a clock and focus on the keys you keep missing.