Unicode Character Table

What this table shows

This is a browsable map of Unicode, the standard that gives a number to the characters of nearly every writing system in the world. Rather than a single fixed list, it is a table you page through, and for each character it shows you three things: its Unicode code point, the escape sequence for using it in code, and its HTML code for using it on a web page. It covers the main range of Unicode, the part that holds the world's everyday scripts and a wealth of symbols.

ASCII was only the beginning

To see why Unicode exists, picture the limits of ASCII. ASCII has just 128 characters, enough for English and little else. That left no room for accented letters, for Greek or Arabic or Chinese, for mathematical signs or arrows, and the early world of computing fractured into dozens of incompatible patches that each added their own characters. Unicode was the fix: one enormous, shared scheme that assigns every character its own unique number, called a code point, so that text means the same thing everywhere. It now covers more than 150,000 characters and keeps growing, taking in the world's living and historical scripts and an ever-expanding set of symbols and emoji. A code point is written in a standard form, a U followed by a plus sign and the number in hex, so capital A is U+0041. And there is a graceful link back to the old world: the first 128 Unicode code points are exactly the ASCII codes, so ASCII is simply the beginning of Unicode.

How to use the table

Because there are far too many characters to show at once, the table works in pages. Use the next and previous buttons to move through it a block at a time, or jump straight to a page by its number if you know roughly where a character sits. There are also category shortcuts that leap to useful regions, like currency signs and mathematical symbols, so you do not have to hunt. As you browse, each character is shown alongside its three codes, ready to read off or copy.

What the three codes are for

The three codes beside each character each have their own job. The code point, the U+ value, is the character's universal name, the one identifier that means this exact character to any system anywhere. The escape sequence, written with a backslash and u, is how you write the character inside program code when you cannot or would rather not type it directly. And the HTML code is how you place the character on a web page so it displays correctly whatever the page's settings. So the same character is given to you in the form each of those three contexts expects.

Related tools and tables

For the small, foundational corner of Unicode that covers basic English, the ASCII Codes Table lays those first 128 characters out in full, with binary and other columns. And if your aim is specifically to find the HTML code for a symbol to drop into a web page, the HTML Character Codes table is organised around exactly that.

Questions people ask

How many characters does Unicode have?

More than 150,000, and the number grows with each new version as more scripts and symbols are added. This table lets you browse the main range that holds the world's common characters.

What is a code point, and what does U+ mean?

A code point is the unique number Unicode assigns to a character. It is written as U+ followed by the number in hex, so capital A is U+0041. It is the character's universal identifier.

How is Unicode related to ASCII?

Unicode is a vast extension of ASCII. Its first 128 code points are exactly the ASCII codes, so every ASCII character is also a Unicode character with the same number, and Unicode carries on far beyond.

References

1. The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard. https://www.unicode.org/standard/standard.html
2. The Unicode Consortium. Unicode Character Code Charts. https://www.unicode.org/charts/