Tilde symbol ~ is part of standard US English keyboard layout and combined with the back quote ` key. You can find this symbol on top left corner of the keyboard just below the escape key. Simply press “Shift + Tilde” keys to insert tilde symbol on your documents. However, many modern laptops and keyboard layouts do not include this key. If you frequently use tilde symbol, here is how you can make it with keyboard shortcuts. Since most of these keyboard shortcuts and options are generic in nature, you can use it in your documents, chat conversations and in any app.
Tilde Symbol Keyboard Shortcuts – Summary
Below is the overall summary of keyboard shortcuts to make tilde symbol:
Symbol Name | Tilde |
Alt Code (Windows) | Alt + 0126 |
Alt + X (Word) | 007E + Alt + X |
Mac Shortcut | Option + 007E |
HTML Entity Decimal | ~ |
HTML Entity Hexadecimal | ~ |
CSS Value | \007E |
JS Value | \u007E |
Decimal | 126 |
Hexadecimal | 007E |
Unicode Point | U+007E |
Make Tilde Symbol in Windows
You can use one of the below methods to insert tilde symbol in Windows computers.
- Alt code decimal shortcuts – if you have a longer keyboard with separate number pad then this is the most easy way. Simply, place the cursor in the place where you want to insert the symbol and press “Alt + 0126”. On some machines, you may need to use AltGr key and use three digits without the leading zero.
- Hexadecimal code shortcut – if you want to insert the symbol frequently in Microsoft Word documents, then the alternate option is to use hexadecimal code equivalent like “007E Alt + X”. This does not need separate number pad and only works in Word documents in Windows.
- Using Character Map app – use Windows Search to find and open Character Map app. Using this app, you can search for tilde symbol and insert anywhere in a text box. First change the font to Arial then type 007E in the “Go to Unicode” text box and press enter key. This will highlight the tilde symbol which you can select and then copy to clipboard. Once copied, you can insert the symbol in any app by pasting it using “Control + V” keys.
Make Tilde Symbol in macOS
Similar to Windows, you can use the following methods to insert tilde symbol in macOS documents like Pages and Keynote.
- Hexadecimal shortcut – press “option + 007E” keys to make tilde ~ symbol in Mac. However, you need to first switch the language input to Unicode Hex Input for using this method. Good part is that this method will work on all applications including third-party apps like Word for Mac.
- Using Character Viewer app – alternate option to insert tilde symbol in Mac is to use Character Viewer app. Press “Command + Control + Shift” keys to open the app. Type “tilde” in the search box to find all related symbols and double click on tilde symbol to insert in your document. The advantage of this method is that you can view and insert lot of font variations. However, font variations will only work in Mac native apps like Pages and all font variations will create the same tilde symbol in Word for Mac and other third-party apps.
Make Tilde Symbol in Wed Documents
It is also easy to make tilde symbol in web documents by escape entities in HTML or CSS. To insert the symbol in HTML, use either decimal equivalent or hexadecimal code as given in the below format:
<span>~</span>
<span>E; </span>
If you want to use CSS, then use the following code:
li:before {
content:\1EF9;
}
You can use any HTML tags instead of span and li used on the above examples.
Usage of Tilde Symbol
The usage of tilde symbol varies depending upon the purpose. Here are some of the popular ways people use tilde symbol and other variations.
- Approximately is the most common meaning of tilde symbol like ~5 indicates approximately 5.
- Tilde symbol is also used to indicate a range like 3 ~ 8.
- In Unix, tilde means the home directory of user.
- Tilde is part of many languages to make special characters with tones like Ễ and ỹ.
- In mathematics, it is used with the meaning as same order of magnitude like X~Y.
Other Tilde Symbols
As mentioned above, tilde symbol is part of many languages to create diacritic letters. In our earlier articles, we explained how to type all these special language letters using alt code shortcuts in Windows and Mac. Besides those language letters, tilde symbol has different related symbols and variations used for different purposes. Below table provides the list of other tilde symbol that you can type with alt code shortcuts.
As mentioned above, you can use the alt code shortcuts in Windows while hex code can be used in Windows Word (in 02DC Alt + X format) and Mac applications (in option + 02DC format).
Symbol | Name | Alt Code | Hex Code |
---|---|---|---|
˜ | Small Tilde | Alt + 732 | 02DC |
˷ | Modifier Letter Low Tilde | Alt + 759 | 02F7 |
̃ | Combining Tilde | Alt + 771 | 0303 |
̰ | Combining Tilde Below | Alt + 816 | 0330 |
̴ | Combining Tilde Overlay | Alt + 820 | 0334 |
̾ | Combining Vertical Tilde | Alt + 830 | 033E |
͊ | Combining Not Tilde Above | Alt + 842 | 034A |
͠ | Combining Double Tilde | Alt + 864 | 0360 |
∼ | Tilde Operator | Alt + 8764 | 223C |
∽ | Reversed Tilde | Alt + 8765 | 223D |
≁ | Not Tilde | Alt + 8769 | 2241 |
≂ | Minus Tilde | Alt + 8770 | 2242 |
≋ | Triple Tilde | Alt + 8779 | 224B |
⋍ | Reversed Tilde Equals | Alt + 8909 | 22CD |
⥲ | Tilde Operator Above Rightwards Arrow | Alt + 10610 | 2972 |
⥳ | Leftwards Arrow Above Tilde Operator | Alt + 10611 | 2973 |
⥴ | Rightwards Arrow Above Tilde Operator | Alt + 10612 | 2974 |
⧤ | Equals Sign and Slanted Parallel with Tilde Above | Alt + 10724 | 29E4 |
⨤ | Plus Sign with Tilde Above | Alt + 10788 | 2A24 |
⨦ | Plus Sign with Tilde Below | Alt + 10790 | 2A26 |
⩪ | Tilde Operator with Dot Above | Alt + 10858 | 2A6A |
⩫ | Tilde Operator with Rising Dots | Alt + 10859 | 2A6B |
⩳ | Equals Sign Above Tilde Operator | Alt + 10867 | 2A73 |
⫇ | Subset Of Above Tilde Operator | Alt + 10951 | 2AC7 |
⫈ | Superset Of Above Tilde Operator | Alt + 10952 | 2AC8 |
⫳ | Parallel With Tilde Operator | Alt + 10995 | 2AF3 |
⭁ | Reverse Tilde Operator Above Leftwards Arrow | Alt + 11073 | 2B41 |
⭇ | Reverse Tilde Operator Above Rightwards Arrow | Alt + 11079 | 2B47 |
⭉ | Tilde Operator Above Leftwards Arrow | Alt + 11081 | 2B49 |
⭋ | Leftwards Arrow Above Reverse Tilde Operator | Alt + 11083 | 2B4B |
⭌ | Rightwards Arrow Above Reverse Tilde Operator | Alt + 11084 | 2B4C |
⸛ | Tilde With Ring Above | Alt + 11803 | 2E1B |
⸞ | Tilde With Dot Above | Alt + 11806 | 2E1E |
⸟ | Tilde With Dot Below | Alt + 11807 | 2E1F |
ⸯ | Vertical Tilde | Alt + 11823 | 2E2F |
~ | Fullwidth Tilde | Alt + 65374 | FF5E |
Double Tilde and Other Mathematical Tilde Symbols
There are lot of tilde related symbols used for approximation purposes like ≈ and ≉. However, these symbols are named with “equal to” in mathematical context and not including tilde in their names. For example, double tilde symbol is used for approximation purposes like ≈10. However, this is named as “Almost Equal to” symbol in Unicode with the codepoint as U+8776. Similarly, double tilde with cross ≉ symbol means “Not Almost Equal to” which has the codepoint U+8777. You can check out the complete list of alt codes for mathematical symbols to get shortcuts for these symbols.
Make Tilde Symbol in Smartphones
On Android and iPhone, you can use the default keyboard to insert the tilde symbol. For example, you need to first tap on the “123” key to view tilde and other symbols in iPhone. On some keyboard layouts in Android, you may need to tap number key showing as “123” or symbols key showing as “#+=” to view tilde symbol.
Smartphone keyboard layouts only include standard tilde symbol and for any other symbols as listed in the above table, the only option for you is to copy and paste.
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