Tool

Copy And Paste Symbols

2,197 characters, every code checked against the Unicode standard. Click any symbol to copy it and see how to type it on Windows, Mac, Word and the web.

Most-copied symbols

The ones people reach for most. Click to copy.

How to use it

When pasting beats typing the code

Alt codes are quicker if the character has one and you can remember it. Most can’t, and most don’t.

Here’s the part almost nobody mentions: of the 2,197 characters on this page, only 150 have a genuine Windows Alt code. The Alt code system dates from the 1980s and covers a table of 256 characters. Everything added to Unicode since then — most arrows, every zodiac sign, the newer currency symbols, most shapes — simply isn’t in it.

That’s why so many sites list a code that quietly fails when you try it in Notepad. Where a character has no Alt code, this tool says so and gives you the route that does work.

So: paste when you need the character once, when you’re on a phone or Chromebook, or when it has no shortcut. Learn the code for the two or three characters you type every week. For the difference between the numbering systems, see Alt code vs Unicode vs HTML entity.

Why a symbol can look different on your phone

Paste ♈ into a message and your phone may show a small colour picture, while the same character on a Windows laptop shows a plain outline. Nothing is broken and it isn’t the wrong character — Unicode allows some characters two presentations, and each device picks a default.

If you need the plain monochrome version in a document, you can force it. The guides for those characters cover how, since it matters most for zodiac and planet symbols and weather symbols.

A character showing as an empty box is a real problem, but a different one: the font you’re using has no drawing for it. Switching to Segoe UI Symbol, Arial Unicode MS or Noto Sans Symbols usually fixes it.

What’s in each category

Every character here also has a full written guide covering Windows, Mac, Word, Excel, Google Docs, mobile and the apps you actually use.

• Currency — 36 guides. Dollar, euro, pound, yen, rupee and the rest, including the ones written as letters rather than a symbol.
• Maths and science — 93 guides. Operators, Greek letters, set theory, calculus notation and units.
• Punctuation — 42 guides. Dashes, quotation marks, the pilcrow, the section sign and the marks people confuse with each other.
• Accented letters — 40 guides. Every diacritic on every letter, plus guides grouped by accent type.
• Zodiac and planets — 27 guides. All twelve signs and the planetary symbols.
• Iconic symbols — 12 guides. Hearts, stars, ticks, arrows, copyright and trademark.

Or see the complete Alt code list and the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet.

Where these actually get used

Four situations account for most of the traffic to this page. Each has its own quirk worth knowing.

When a symbol won’t paste properly

Three things go wrong, and they have different causes.

• It shows as an empty box (□). The font has no drawing for that character. Switch to Segoe UI Symbol, Arial Unicode MS or Noto Sans Symbols. The character is intact — only the display is missing.
• It shows as a question mark or garbled letters. Something in the chain isn’t using UTF-8. Common when pasting into older software, a CSV, or a database field with the wrong encoding.
• It pastes with unwanted formatting. Use Paste as Plain Text — Ctrl + Shift + V in most applications — so you get the character without the styling from this page.

If you’re trying to type rather than paste and the code isn’t working, see why Alt codes fail on laptops and how to fix symbols showing as boxes.

Where the codes come from

Every code point and HTML entity on this page is generated straight from the Unicode character database rather than typed by hand, which is why they can’t drift out of date. If you want to check anything independently, these are the primary sources:

• Unicode character charts — the official code charts, organised by block. The definitive reference for any character here.
• The Unicode Consortium — the body that maintains the standard and publishes each new version.
• The Unicode Standard — the full specification, including how characters are named and classified.

Unicode is an open standard, so the characters themselves carry no licence and no restrictions. Use them anywhere, for anything, commercial or otherwise.

Common questions

Do I need to install anything?

No. Clicking copies the character to your clipboard using your browser. Nothing is downloaded and nothing is saved.

Why does one symbol show “no Alt code”?

Because it genuinely hasn’t got one. Alt codes only cover a 256-character table from the 1980s, so most characters added to Unicode since then are missing from it. Rather than print a code that fails, the tool gives you the emoji panel, Character Map or paste route instead.

Will these work in Word and Excel?

Yes. Pasting works in every modern application. In Word you can also type the hex code and press Alt+X. In Excel, use =UNICHAR() with the decimal number when you need the character inside a formula.

Can I copy on a phone?

Yes. Tap the symbol to copy, then long-press in any text field and choose Paste. This is often the fastest route on mobile, since phones have no Alt key at all.

Why does the same character look different on my laptop and my phone?

Some Unicode characters have both a colour emoji form and a plain text form, and each device picks its own default. It’s the same character either way. A character showing as an empty box is a different issue — that means your font has no drawing for it.

Are these symbols free to use?

Yes. Unicode is an open standard and the characters carry no licence or restriction. You can use any of them personally, commercially or in published work without attribution.

Can I use symbols in my username?

In a display name or bio, usually yes. In an @handle, usually not — most platforms restrict handles to letters, numbers, underscores and periods, and will reject anything else.

Are the codes on this page reliable?

Every code point, Alt code and HTML entity here is generated directly from the Unicode character database rather than typed by hand, so they can’t drift. Mac shortcuts are checked individually, and where a character has no standard one, the tool says to use Character Viewer instead of inventing a shortcut.

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