Does & or & or & mean the same thing in code?

Solution:

Technically yes they are all the same thing. Since it’s wordpress I would recommend using the & as that’s the encoded version of the ampersand & or &.

WordPress references:

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/how-to-get-rid-of-amp-and-038

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/unwanted-characters-038