The Brazilian real symbol has no dedicated character. You type it as two keys: a capital R followed by a dollar sign, which gives R$. There is no single Unicode code point, no Windows Alt code, and no HTML entity for R$ as one glyph.
You press R, then Shift+4 for $. The three-letter ISO currency code is BRL.
The buttons above copy other world currency signs. The real is a special case: because R$ is a letter plus the ordinary dollar sign, both already on your keyboard, there is nothing to copy that a normal keystroke won’t produce faster.
What the Brazilian real symbol actually is
The real (plural: reais) has been Brazil’s currency since 1994. Its written mark is the abbreviation R$, formed from a capital R and the dollar sign.
A price looks like R$ 19,90 for nineteen reais and ninety centavos. Unlike the euro (€) or the yen (¥), the real was never assigned its own Unicode symbol, so no font holds a single “real” glyph.
Historically, Brazilian prices used the cifrão, a dollar sign drawn with two vertical strokes. Unicode gives that two-stroke form no separate code point; the standard dollar sign (U+0024) covers both the one-stroke and two-stroke shapes, and which you see depends on the font. In everyday digital text, R$ with a normal dollar sign is the correct, expected form.
Brazilian formatting also differs from US style. A space follows the symbol, the decimal separator is a comma, and the thousands separator is a period, so one thousand reais and five centavos is written R$ 1. 000,05.
The separators matter most in spreadsheets, where the wrong locale turns 1. 000 into “one point zero” instead of “one thousand. “
Brazilian real symbol codes
There is no code for R$ as a unit, so the table lists the two characters you combine. The Alt code column is decimal and the Unicode column is hex; do not type the hex value into an Alt code.
| Character | Name | Unicode (hex) | Alt code (decimal) | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R$ | Brazilian real, written form | No single code point | None, type both keys | Type R$ |
| R | Latin capital letter R | U+0052 | No verified Windows Alt code; use the verified Word Alt+X value in this row | R |
| $ | Dollar sign | U+0024 | Alt+0036 | $ |
Both Alt codes need the numeric keypad on the right of a full keyboard, and both sit below 128, so they produce the same character on every regional code page. They are still slower than typing the keys, so use them only if a key is broken. On a laptop with no keypad, press R and Shift+4.
How to type the Brazilian real symbol on every device
Windows and Mac
Type a capital R, then hold Shift and press 4 for the dollar sign. On the US, UK, and Brazilian ABNT2 layouts the dollar sign sits on the 4 key. That is the whole method on both Windows and macOS: no Option shortcut or Alt code beats two keystrokes.
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
In Word and PowerPoint, type R$ directly; no Insert Symbol trip is needed. Excel is where formatting helps: select your cells, press Ctrl+1 to open Format Cells, choose Currency or Accounting, and pick Portuguese (Brazil) so amounts show as R$ 1. 234,56.
For a fixed look, apply the custom format “R$”#,##0. 00 instead.
Google Docs and Sheets
In Google Docs, type R$ from the keyboard. In Google Sheets, format the cell rather than typing a symbol: Format > Number > Custom currency, then choose the R$ Brazilian real option, or apply the pattern R$#,##0.
00. Sheets has no Insert Symbol menu, but you never need one here because R and $ are ordinary keys.
iPhone and Android
Type R, then tap the 123 key to switch to numbers and symbols and press $. On both iOS and Android the dollar sign lives on the first symbols screen. Long-pressing $ on some keyboards reveals other currency signs, but the real is not among them because it has no single character.
Chromebook, Notion, Slack, Discord, and Canva
All of these take R$ straight from the keyboard: press R, then Shift+4. There is no paste trick or text-replacement shortcut to set up, because a plain R and a plain dollar sign already work in every text field. On a Chromebook you do not need Ctrl+Shift+U, since that shortcut is for characters with no key of their own.
Where you’ll see R$
R$ prefixes prices across Brazilian stores, restaurants, and online checkouts, and it heads invoices, salary slips, and bank statements. In spreadsheets that track Brazilian sales it appears as a formatted currency, while forex quotes and international transfers switch to the ISO code BRL, as in USD/BRL. Marketplace listings and chat messages simply write R$ before the number.
On Brazilian e-commerce sites such as Mercado Livre and in banking apps for PIX transfers, amounts appear as R$ next to the value, and receipts print it the same way. If you sell to Brazilian customers, matching that format, including the comma decimal, makes prices read as local rather than converted.
Symbols people confuse with R$
Because R$ starts with a letter and ends with a dollar sign, it collides with two other currencies. The South African rand uses a plain R with no dollar sign, so R alone means rand while R$ means real. The bare dollar sign belongs to the US dollar and to the Mexican peso, both of which write $ without the leading R.
For a side-by-side view of every national currency mark and how each one is typed, see the world currency symbols list.
Related guides
- Indonesian rupiah (Rp), another currency written as letters rather than a single symbol.
- Philippine peso (₱), a peso that does have its own Unicode character.
- UAE dirham (د.إ), typed from an Arabic-script abbreviation.
- All currency symbol guides for euros, pounds, rupees, and more.
- Copy-and-paste symbol tool to grab any currency mark in one click.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a single Unicode symbol for the Brazilian real?
No. Unlike the euro or yen, the real was never given its own code point, so R$ is always two characters: the letter R (U+0052) and the dollar sign (U+0024). The two-stroke “cifrão” you sometimes see is the same dollar sign drawn differently by certain fonts, not a separate symbol.
What’s the difference between R$ and the South African rand (R)?
The leading letter is the same, but the rand is written as a plain R with no dollar sign, while the real always keeps the $. So R 50 is fifty South African rand and R$ 50 is fifty Brazilian reais. When context is unclear, the ISO codes ZAR and BRL remove all doubt.
What is BRL, and when should I use it?
BRL is the ISO 4217 code for the Brazilian real, used wherever a plain-text, language-neutral label is needed: bank transfers, accounting systems, and foreign-exchange quotes such as USD/BRL. Use R$ for prices people read, and BRL for finance, coding, and cross-border forms.
Does R$ work in a username, bio, or chat?
Yes. Because R$ is just an ordinary letter and dollar sign, it displays on every phone, laptop, and website with no risk of showing as a box or blank. Type it or paste it into Instagram bios, marketplace listings, Discord, or Slack, and it renders the same everywhere.
Why does the dollar sign sometimes have two vertical strokes?
That is the cifrão, the traditional Brazilian and Portuguese styling of the dollar sign. Whether you see one stroke or two depends entirely on the font, not on any code you typed. Both are the standard dollar sign at U+0024, so you never need a special character to produce it.