Character & Encoding Hub

Find Any Character, Symbol or Unicode Code

Search Unicode characters, ASCII codes, HTML entities, emoji and symbols, or convert between common character formats.

Quick Reference

Popular Symbols

Open the full record for any symbol to copy its code forms.

BLACK HEART SUITBLACK STARCOPYRIGHT SIGNREGISTERED SIGNTRADE MARK SIGNGREEK SMALL LETTER PIINCREMENTNOT EQUAL TOLESS-THAN OR EQUAL TOGREATER-THAN OR EQUAL TOSECTION SIGNPILCROW SIGNLEFTWARDS ARROWRIGHTWARDS ARROWUPWARDS ARROWDOWNWARDS ARROWINFINITYCHECK MARKEIGHTH NOTEGREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA

Explore

Character References

One place to search, understand, and copy characters across every major reference.

Unicode Lookup
Search characters by glyph, name, code point, category, or block.
Open reference
ASCII Table
All 128 ASCII codes in decimal, hex, octal, binary, and character form.
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HTML Entities
Named, decimal, and hexadecimal character references for HTML.
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Emoji Directory
Emoji names, code point sequences, categories, and copy formats.
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Symbol Categories
Math, currency, arrows, check marks, stars, hearts, and more.
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Encoding Guides
Understand Unicode, UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32, and ASCII.
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Utilities

Popular Character Tools

All tools run in your browser with no uploads.

Character Lookup
Paste a character or code point to identify and copy its forms.
Character to Unicode
Paste any text and see each character with its code point, decimal, UTF-8, HTML, and JavaScript forms.
Unicode to Character
Turn U+ notation, hex values, or decimal code points back into readable characters.
Text to Unicode Code Points
Convert any text into a list of Unicode code points with byte and escape references.
Code Points to Text
Decode a list of Unicode code points back into a readable text string.

View all tools

Browse

Symbols by Category

Practical collections for the symbols people search for most.

Math Symbols48 charactersCurrency Symbols12 charactersArrow Symbols30 charactersCheck Marks8 charactersStars8 charactersHearts11 charactersTechnical Symbols19 charactersGreek Letters51 charactersPunctuation50 charactersSpecial Characters15 characters

Learn

Encoding Guides

Character identity and byte encoding explained with examples.

U+

Unicode Character Encoding

How Unicode assigns stable code points to characters and why that model separates identity from bytes.

UTF-8

UTF-8 Encoding Guide

The variable-width byte encoding used by most of the web, with one to four bytes per code point.

UTF-16

UTF-16 Encoding Guide

The 16-bit-unit encoding used by Windows APIs, Java, and JavaScript string internals.

UTF-32

UTF-32 Encoding Guide

A fixed four-byte encoding where every code point takes the same amount of space.

ASCII

ASCII Character Encoding

The 128-character American Standard Code for Information Interchange and its role inside Unicode.

Guides & FAQ

Practical Answers

Short explanations for characters, codes, encodings, and conversion formats.

How Unicode Code Points Work4 min readUnicode vs. UTF-8: What Is the Difference?5 min readHow to Copy Special Characters as Text4 min readEmoji and Combining Sequences5 min readASCII Character Codes Explained5 min readHTML Entities: Named and Numeric References5 min readEmoji Unicode Codes and Sequences5 min readUTF-16 and Surrogate Pairs4 min readCharacter Conversion Formats5 min readSymbols and Special Characters Reference4 min read
What is a Unicode code point?

A code point is the number Unicode assigns to a character, written in U+ hexadecimal notation such as U+0041 for A or U+1F600 for the grinning face. The number is stable and independent of how the character is encoded into bytes.

Why do some characters display as boxes or question marks?

A missing glyph usually means the installed font has no design for that character, not that the code point is invalid. Try a font with broader coverage such as Noto Sans or Noto Sans Symbols, and verify the code point separately.

What is the difference between UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32?

They are different ways to encode the same code points. UTF-8 uses one to four bytes and stays compatible with ASCII, UTF-16 uses one or two 16-bit units, and UTF-32 uses a fixed four bytes per code point. UTF-8 is the dominant encoding on the web.

Is my character lookup private?

Yes. The lookup runs entirely in your browser against the built-in Unicode 15.1 dataset. No input, keystroke, clipboard value, or search query is sent to a server or stored.

What is a combining sequence?

A combining sequence is a base character followed by one or more combining marks, such as e followed by the acute accent. It is a sequence of multiple code points even when it looks like one displayed letter.

How accurate is the character database?

Facts such as names, blocks, scripts, and categories are generated from the official Unicode 15.1 Character Database files. Each record shows its reviewed date and source link on the detail page.

What is ASCII and how is it different from Unicode?

ASCII is a 128-character code table used in early computing. Unicode keeps every ASCII character at the same code point and extends the system to more than a million code points, so ASCII is now a subset of Unicode.

What is an HTML entity?

An HTML entity is a character reference that starts with an ampersand and ends with a semicolon, such as © or ©. Browsers decode entities into the characters they represent inside HTML documents.

How do I copy a character in UTF-8, HTML, CSS, or JavaScript?

Open the character detail page and use the copy buttons next to each format. UTF-8 shows the byte sequence, HTML shows named and numeric entities, and CSS, JavaScript, and Python rows show their escape syntax.

What is an emoji sequence?

An emoji sequence is a display unit made of several code points, such as a family joined by a zero-width joiner or a person followed by a skin-tone modifier. It is one visible emoji but not one code point.

What is the difference between UTF-8 and UTF-16?

UTF-8 uses one to four bytes and stays compatible with ASCII. UTF-16 uses 16-bit units and surrogate pairs for characters above U+FFFF. UTF-8 is the default for the web; UTF-16 appears in many system and language APIs.

Do the search and conversion tools send my text anywhere?

No. Search, character lookup, and every converter in this hub run in your browser against static data. Input text, code points, and copied values are not sent to a server or stored.

Where do emoji and HTML entity records come from?

Emoji records are generated from the Unicode 15.1 emoji-test data, and HTML entities come from the WHATWG HTML named character reference table. The Unicode character facts use the official Unicode 15.1 Character Database.