On one of my favorite sites, I've noticed someone using some unusual character strings that seem to affect html layout.

Is there a way I can do something similar to create the equivalant of the html <br> command or of the html <p> command?

The string I saw was: & # 9 5 9 ; (but no spaces between)

Thanks,
Dave

That's the greek letter omicron and it doesn't affect layout.
http://htmlhelp.com/reference/html40/entities/symbols.html

It sounds like you want to create some vertical space, margins. For that CSS 'margin' is used.
http://htmlhelp.com/reference/css/box/