Home » Tech Tips » Shortcuts » Alt Code Shortcuts for Mac to Insert Symbols

Alt Code Shortcuts for Mac to Insert Symbols

Updated on Mar 13, 2023 Posted by Editorial Staff Mac, Shortcuts, Tech Tips 28 Comments

Alt code shortcuts are popular in Windows PC to insert special characters and Unicode symbols. Many users do not know that they can also use alt code shortcuts in Apple’s MacBook and iMac computers. The default Apple keyboard also has two alt keys on the keyboard layout. They are named as “Option” on the keys with the small name “alt” on it. These alt keys are one of the hidden gems in Apple keyboard less used by most of the Mac users. In this article, we will provide a complete list alt code shortcuts for Mac to insert symbols.

You can use the option key to insert special symbols like trademark, copyright and currencies. These alt code Mac shortcuts will work on all default text editing apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Notes, TextEdit or when typing emails.

Alt Code Shortcuts for Mac

You can use the default English keyboard layout (ABC) when using alt key with other modifier keys like Shift or letter keys. However, you should change the input source to Unicode Hex Input in order to use the four digit hexadecimal Unicode points.

Below is the complete list of keyboard shortcuts for inserting symbols using option or alt key in macOS. Use the search box for typing the symbol name to quickly filter the results. For example, type “cross” to filter all cross mark symbols. We have also grouped the shortcuts under different categories and you can sort the “Category” column to find relevant shortcuts easily.

Accent – accented language characters like Ä, ë and Ǖ.
Arrows – all arrow symbols like ➘, ➜ and ➵.
Check – check mark symbols in Mac like ☑ and ✔.
Cross – cross symbols like ✖ and ☒.
Currency – all currency symbols like €, $ and £.
Hearts – different hearts symbols like ❤ and ♥.
Letters – default keyboard uppercase and lowercase letters.
Math – mathematical symbols, fractions and operators like ≤, ≥ and ≠.
Music – music symbols like ♫ and ♯.
Numbers – default and circled numbers like ❶ and ➉.
Punctuation – typography marks like ¶ and ¿.
Sports – sports and activities related symbols like ♧ and ♞.
Stars – star and asterisk symbols like ✨, ✰ and ✪.
Symbol – special and letter like symbols like ©, ™ and ✐.
Weather – nature related symbols like ❄, ☃ and ☂.
Zodiac – astrology symbols like ♌ and ♏.

Mac Alt Code	Symbol	Description	Category
Option + Shift + k		Apple Logo Symbol	Symbol
Option + z	Ω	Ohm or Omega	Math
Option + p	π	Greek Lowercase Pi	Math
Option + m	µ	Micron or Micro Sign	Math
Option + Shift + ;	Ú	Latin Uppercase U with Acute	Accent
Option + 2	™	Trademark	Symbol
Option + s	ß	Latin Lowercase Sharp S	Letters
Option + Shift + q	Œ	Latin Uppercase Ligature OE	Letters
Option + q	œ	Latin Lowercase Ligature OE	Letters
Option + Shift + o	Ø	Latin Uppercase O with Stroke	Letters
Option + o	ø	Latin Lowercase O with Stroke	Letters
Option + Shift + j	Ô	Latin Uppercase O with Circumflex	Accent
Option + Shift + l	Ò	Latin Uppercase O with Grave	Accent
Option + Shift + h	Ó	Latin Uppercase O with Acute	Accent
Option + 0	º	Masculine Ordinal Indicator	Math
Option + Shift + b	ı	Latin Lowercase Dotless I	Letters
Option + Shift + f	Ï	Latin Uppercase I with Diaeresis	Accent
Option + Shift + d	Î	Latin Uppercase I with Circumflex	Accent
Option + Shift + s	Í	Latin Uppercase I with Acute	Accent
Option + f	ƒ	Latin Lowercase f with Hook or Florin	Letters
Option + Shift + 6	ﬂ	Latin Lowercase Ligature FL	Letters
Option + Shift + 5	ﬁ	Latin Lowercase Ligature FI	Letters
Option + Shift + c	Ç	Latin Uppercase C with Cedilla	Accent
Option + c	ç	Latin Lowercase C with Cedilla	Accent
Option + Shift + ‘	Æ	Latin Uppercase Æ	Letters
Option + ‘	æ	Latin Lowercase æ	Letters
Option + Shift + a	Å	Latin Uppercase A with Ring Above	Accent
Option + a	å	Latin Lowercase A with Ring Above	Accent
Option + Shift + m	Â	Latin Uppercase A with Circumflex	Accent
Option + Shift + y	Á	Latin Uppercase A with Acute	Accent
Option + 9	ª	Feminine Ordinal Indicator	Math
Option + Shift + 2	€	Euro Symbol	Currency
Option + y	¥	Japanese Yen Symbol	Currency
Option + 3	£	Pound Sterling Symbol	Currency
Option + 4	¢	Cent Symbol	Currency
Option + Shift + v	◊	Diamond or Lozenge	Math
Option + .	≥	Greater than or Equal to	Math
Option + ,	≤	Lesser than or Equal to	Math
Option + x	≈	Approximate or Almost Equal to	Math
Option + b	∫	Integral Symbol	Math
Option + 5	∞	Infinity	Math
Option + v	√	Square Root Math Symbol	Math
Option + Shift + 1	⁄	Slash or Forward Slash or Right Slash	Punctuation
Option + l	¬	Not Sign	Math
Option + =	≠	Not Equal to	Math
Option + /	÷	Divided by or Division Sign	Math
Option + Shift + =	±	Plus or Minus	Math
Option + w	∑	Sigma or Sum or N-ary Summation	Math
Option + Shift + p	∏	N-ary product Symbol	Math
Option + j	∆	Triangle or Increment	Math
Option + d	∂	Partial Differential	Math
Option + r	®	Registered	Symbol
Option + g	©	Copyright	Symbol
Option + Shift + 8	°	Degree	Math
Option + Shift + t	ˇ	Caron or háček or Inverted Circumflex	Accent
Option + Shift + i	ˆ	Circumflex	Accent
Option + i	ˆ	Circumflex	Accent
Option + Shift + x	˛	Ogonek	Accent
Option + Shift + z	¸	Cedilla	Accent
Option + Shift + g	˝	Double Acute Accent	Accent
Option + k	˚	Ring Above	Accent
Option + u	¨	Diaeresis	Accent
Option + Shift + u	¨	Diaeresis	Accent
Option + h	˙	Superscript Dot or Dot Above	Accent
Option + Shift + .	˘	Breve	Accent
Option + Shift + ,	¯	Macron	Accent
Option + Shift + n	˜	Lowercase Tilde	Accent
Option + n	˜	Lowercase Tilde	Accent
Option + Shift + e	´	Acute Accent	Accent
Option + e	´	Acute Accent	Accent
Option + 8	•	Bullet	Punctuation
Option + Shift + 7	‡	Double Dagger	Cross
Option + t	†	Dagger or Plus or Cross	Cross
Option + Shift + r	‰	Per Mille Sign	Math
Option + 7	¶	Paragraph or Pilcrow sign	Punctuation
Option + 6	§	Section Sign	Punctuation
Option + Shift + \	»	Double Right Angle Quotation Mark	Punctuation
Option + \	«	Double Left Angle Quotation Mark	Punctuation
Option + Shift + w	„	Double Quote (European)	Punctuation
Option + Shift + [	”	Right Double Quote	Punctuation
Option + [	“	Left Double Quote	Punctuation
Option + Shift + 4	›	Single Right Angle Quotation Mark	Punctuation
Option + Shift + 3	‹	Single Left Angle Quotation Mark	Punctuation
Option + Shift + 0	‚	Comma	Punctuation
Option + Shift + ]	’	Right Single Quote	Punctuation
Option + ]	‘	Apostrophe or Left Single Quote	Punctuation
Option + Shift + 9	·	Dot Center	Punctuation
Option + ;	…	Horizontal Ellipsis	Punctuation
Option + Shift + /	¿	Inverted Question Mark	Punctuation
Option + 1	¡	Inverted Exclamation Mark	Punctuation
Option + Shift + -	—	Em Dash	Punctuation
Option + -	–	En Dash	Punctuation
Option + 001E	‑	Hyphen	Punctuation
Option + 0021	!	Exclamation	Punctuation
Option + 0022	“	Double Quote	Punctuation
Option + 0023	#	Number Sign	Punctuation
Option + 0024	$	Dollar Sign	Currency
Option + 0025	%	Percentage	Punctuation
Option + 0026	&	Ampersand	Punctuation
Option + 0027	‘	Single Quote	Punctuation
Option + 0028	(	Left Parenthesis	Punctuation
Option + 0029	)	Right Parenthesis	Punctuation
Option + 002A	*	Asterisk	Punctuation
Option + 002B	+	Plus Sign	Math
Option + 002C	,	Comma	Punctuation
Option + 002D	-	Minus	Math
Option + 002E	.	Full stop	Punctuation
Option + 002F	/	Right Slash	Punctuation
Option + 0030	0	Number Zero	Numbers
Option + 0031	1	Number One	Numbers
Option + 0032	2	Number Two	Numbers
Option + 0033	3	Number Three	Numbers
Option + 0034	4	Number Four	Numbers
Option + 0035	5	Number Five	Numbers
Option + 0036	6	Number Six	Numbers
Option + 0037	7	Number Seven	Numbers
Option + 0038	8	Number Eight	Numbers
Option + 0039	9	Number Nine	Numbers
Option + 003A	:	Colon	Punctuation
Option + 003B	;	Semicolon	Punctuation
Option + 003C	<	Less than	Math
Option + 003D	=	Is Equal to	Math
Option + 003E	>	Greater than	Math
Option + 003F	?	Question Mark	Punctuation
Option + 0040	@	At the Rate	Symbol
Option + 0041	A	Uppercase A	Letters
Option + 0042	B	Uppercase B	Letters
Option + 0043	C	Uppercase C	Letters
Option + 0044	D	Uppercase D	Letters
Option + 0045	E	Uppercase E	Letters
Option + 0046	F	Uppercase F	Letters
Option + 0047	G	Uppercase G	Letters
Option + 0048	H	Uppercase H	Letters
Option + 0049	I	Uppercase I	Letters
Option + 004A	J	Uppercase J	Letters
Option + 004B	K	Uppercase K	Letters
Option + 004C	L	Uppercase L	Letters
Option + 004D	M	Uppercase M	Letters
Option + 004E	N	Uppercase N	Letters
Option + 004F	O	Uppercase O	Letters
Option + 0050	P	Uppercase P	Letters
Option + 0051	Q	Uppercase Q	Letters
Option + 0052	R	Uppercase R	Letters
Option + 0053	S	Uppercase S	Letters
Option + 0054	T	Uppercase T	Letters
Option + 0055	U	Uppercase U	Letters
Option + 0056	V	Uppercase V	Letters
Option + 0057	W	Uppercase W	Letters
Option + 0058	X	Uppercase X	Letters
Option + 0059	Y	Uppercase Y	Letters
Option + 005A	Z	Uppercase Z	Letters
Option + 005B	[	Left Bracket	Punctuation
Option + 005C	\	Left Slash	Punctuation
Option + 005D	]	Right Bracket	Punctuation
Option + 005E	^	Cap	Punctuation
Option + 005F	_	Underscore	Punctuation
Option + 0060	`	Apostrophe	Punctuation
Option + 0061	a	Lowercase a	Letters
Option + 0062	b	Lowercase b	Letters
Option + 0063	C	Lowercase c	Letters
Option + 0064	d	Lowercase d	Letters
Option + 0065	E	Lowercase e	Letters
Option + 0066	f	Lowercase f	Letters
Option + 0067	g	Lowercase g	Letters
Option + 0068	h	Lowercase h	Letters
Option + 0069	i	Lowercase i	Letters
Option + 006A	j	Lowercase j	Letters
Option + 006B	k	Lowercase k	Letters
Option + 006C	l	Lowercase l	Letters
Option + 006D	m	Lowercase m	Letters
Option + 006E	n	Lowercase n	Letters
Option + 006F	o	Lowercase o	Letters
Option + 0070	p	Lowercase p	Letters
Option + 0071	q	Lowercase q	Letters
Option + 0072	r	Lowercase r	Letters
Option + 0073	s	Lowercase s	Letters
Option + 0074	t	Lowercase t	Letters
Option + 0075	u	Lowercase u	Letters
Option + 0076	v	Lowercase v	Letters
Option + 0077	w	Lowercase w	Letters
Option + 0078	x	Lowercase x	Letters
Option + 0079	y	Lowercase y	Letters
Option + 007A	z	Lowercase z	Letters
Option + 007B	{	Left Brace or Curly Bracket	Punctuation
Option + 007C	\|	Pipeline	Punctuation
Option + 007D	}	Right Brace or Curly Bracket	Punctuation
Option + 007E	~	Intermediate or Approximate	Punctuation
Option + 0080	€	Euro Currency	Currency
Option + 0083	ƒ	Dutch Florin	Currency
Option + 0085	…	Three dots continuation	Punctuation
Option + 0086	†	Dagger	Cross
Option + 0087	‡	Double Dagger	Cross
Option + 0088	ˆ	Cap Arrow	Symbol
Option + 0089	‰	Per Mille	Math
Option + 008A	Š	Uppercase S with Caron	Accent
Option + 008B	‹	Single Angle Quotation Left	Punctuation
Option + 008C	Œ	Uppercase O-E Ligature	Letters
Option + 008E	Ž	Uppercase Z with Caron	Accent
Option + 0095	•	Big Dot	Punctuation
Option + 0096	–	En-dash symbol	Punctuation
Option + 0097	—	Em-dash symbol	Punctuation
Option + 0098	˜	Intermediate	Symbol
Option + 0099	™	Trademark	Symbol
Option + 009A	š	Lowercase s with Caron	Accent
Option + 009B	›	Single Angle Quotation Right	Punctuation
Option + 009C	œ	Lowercase o-e Ligature	Letters
Option + 009E	ž	Lowercase z with Caron	Accent
Option + 009F	Ÿ	Umlaut Y Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00A1	¡	Down Exclamation Mark	Punctuation
Option + 00A2	¢	Cent	Currency
Option + 00A3	£	Pound	Currency
Option + 00A4	¤	General Currency	Currency
Option + 00A5	¥	Japanese Yen	Currency
Option + 00A6	¦	Pipeline with Break	Punctuation
Option + 00A7	§	Section Symbol	Punctuation
Option + 00A9	©	Copyright	Symbol
Option + 00AA	ª	Feminine Ordinal Number	Math
Option + 00AB	«	Double Angle Quotation Left	Punctuation
Option + 00AC	¬	Not Symbol	Math
Option + 00AD		Hyphen or Dash	Punctuation
Option + 00AE	®	Registered	Symbol
Option + 00AF	¯	Upper Dash	Punctuation
Option + 00B0	°	Degree Sign	Math
Option + 00B1	±	Plus or Minus Sign	Math
Option + 00B2	²	Power of Two (Square)	Math
Option + 00B3	³	Power of Three (Cube)	Math
Option + 00B5	µ	Micron	Math
Option + 00B6	¶	Paragraph	Punctuation
Option + 00B7	·	Center Dot	Punctuation
Option + 00B9	¹	Citation One	Punctuation
Option + 00BA	º	Masculine Ordinal Number	Math
Option + 00BB	»	Double Angle Quotation Right	Punctuation
Option + 00BB	»	Double Greater than Mark	Punctuation
Option + 00BC	¼	One fourth fraction	Math
Option + 00BD	½	One half fraction	Math
Option + 00BE	¾	Three fourth fraction	Math
Option + 00BF	¿	Down Question Mark	Punctuation
Option + 00C0	À	Latin Grave A Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00C1	Á	Latin Acute A Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00C2	Â	Latin Circumflex A Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00C3	Ã	Latin Tilde A Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00C4	Ä	Latin Umlaut A Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00C5	Å	Latin Uppercase A with Ring Above	Accent
Option + 00C6	Æ	Latin Uppercase A-E Ligature	Letters
Option + 00C7	Ç	Latin Uppercase C Cedilla	Accent
Option + 00C8	È	Latin Grave E Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00C9	É	Latin Acute E Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00CA	Ê	Latin Circumflex E Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00CB	Ë	Latin Umlaut E Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00CC	Ì	Latin Grave I Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00CD	Í	Latin Acute I Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00CE	Î	Latin Circumflex I Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00CF	Ï	Latin Umlaut I Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00D0	Ð	Old English Eth (Uppercase)	Letters
Option + 00D1	Ñ	Latin Tilde I Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00D2	Ò	Latin Grave O Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00D3	Ó	Latin Acute O Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00D4	Ô	Latin Circumflex O Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00D5	Õ	Latin Tilde O Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00D6	Ö	Latin Umlaut O Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00D7	×	Multiplication Sign	Math
Option + 00D8	Ø	Uppercase Nordic O Slash	Letters
Option + 00D8	Ø	Phi	Math
Option + 00D9	Ù	Latin Grave U Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00DA	Ù	Latin Acute U Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00DB	Û	Latin Circumflex U Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00DC	Ü	Latin Umlaut U Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00DD	Ý	Latin Acute Y Uppercase	Accent
Option + 00DE	Þ	Old English Thorn (Uppercase)	Letters
Option + 00DF	ß	German Sharp S	Letters
Option + 00E0	à	Latin Grave a Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00E1	á	Latin Acute a Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00E2	â	Latin Circumflex a Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00E3	ã	Latin Tilde a Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00E4	ä	Latin Umlaut a Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00E5	å	Latin Lowercase a with Ring Above	Letters
Option + 00E6	æ	Latin Lowercase a-e Ligature	Letters
Option + 00E7	ç	Latin Lowercase C Cedilla	Accent
Option + 00E8	è	Latin Grave e Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00E9	é	Latin Acute e Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00EA	ê	Latin Circumflex e Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00EB	ë	Latin Umlaut e Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00EC	ì	Latin Grave i Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00ED	í	Latin Acute i Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00EE	î	Latin Circumflex i Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00EF	ï	Latin Umlaut i Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00F0	ð	Old English Eth (Lowercase)	Letters
Option + 00F1	ñ	Latin Tilde i Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00F2	ò	Latin Grave o Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00F3	ó	Latin Acute o Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00F4	ô	Latin Circumflex o Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00F5	õ	Latin Tilde o Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00F6	ö	Latin Umlaut o Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00F7	÷	Division Sign	Math
Option + 00F8	ø	Latin Lowercase O with Stroke	Letters
Option + 00F9	ù	Latin Grave u Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00FA	ú	Latin Acute u Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00FB	û	Latin Circumflex u Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00FC	ü	Latin Umlaut u Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00FD	ý	Latin Acute y Lowercase	Accent
Option + 00FE	þ	Old English Thorn (Lowercase)	Letters
Option + 00FF	ÿ	Latin Umlaut y Lowercase	Accent
Option + 2710	✐	Pencil	Symbol
Option + 2711	✑	White Nib	Symbol
Option + 2712	✒	Black Nib	Symbol
Option + 2713	✓	Tick Mark	Check
Option + 2714	✔	Bold Tick Mark	Check
Option + 2715	✕	Cross Mark	Cross
Option + 2716	✖	Bold Cross Mark	Cross
Option + 2717	✗	Styled Cross Mark	Cross
Option + 2718	✘	Bold Style Cross Mark	Cross
Option + 2719	✙	Embossed Plus	Cross
Option + 271A	✚	Bold Plus	Cross
Option + 271B	✛	Cursor	Cross
Option + 271C	✜	Bold Cursor	Cross
Option + 271D	✝	Simple Cross	Cross
Option + 271E	✞	Jesus Cross	Cross
Option + 271F	✟	Embossed Cross	Cross
Option + 2720	✠	Maltese Cross	Cross
Option + 2721	✡	Six Star (Star of David)	Stars
Option + 2722	✢	Four Teardrop Spoked Asterisk	Stars
Option + 2723	✣	Four Balloon Spoked Asterisk	Stars
Option + 2724	✤	Bold Four Balloon Spoked Asterisk	Stars
Option + 2725	✥	Four Clubs Spoked Asterisk	Stars
Option + 2726	✦	Black Four Pointed Star	Stars
Option + 2727	✧	White Four Pointed Star	Stars
Option + 2728	✨	Sparkles	Stars
Option + 2729	✩	Five Pointed Star	Stars
Option + 272A	✪	Five Pointed Star in Circle	Stars
Option + 272B	✫	White Center Black Star	Stars
Option + 272C	✬	Black Center White Star	Stars
Option + 272D	✭	Outlined Black Star	Stars
Option + 272E	✮	Bold Outlined Black Star	Stars
Option + 272F	✯	Pinwheel Star	Stars
Option + 2730	✰	White Star with Shadow	Stars
Option + 2731	✱	Bold Asterisk	Stars
Option + 2732	✲	Open Center Asterisk	Stars
Option + 2733	✳	Eight Spoked Asterisk	Stars
Option + 2734	✴	Eight Point Black Star	Stars
Option + 2735	✵	Eight Point Pinwheel Star	Stars
Option + 2736	✶	Six Point Black Star	Stars
Option + 2737	✷	Eight Point Rectilinear Black Star	Stars
Option + 2738	✸	Bold Eight Point Rectilinear Black Star	Stars
Option + 2739	✹	Twelve Point Black Star	Stars
Option + 273A	✺	Sixteen Spoked Asterisk	Stars
Option + 273D	✽	Flower	Stars
Option + 2742	❂	Flower Donut	Symbol
Option + 2744	❄	Snowflake	Weather
Option + 2751	❑	Lower Right Shadowed White Square	Symbol
Option + 2763	❣	Heavy Heart Exclamation Mark	Hearts
Option + 2764	❤	Heavy Black Heart	Hearts
Option + 2765	❥	Rotated Heavy Black Heart Bullet	Hearts
Option + 2766	❦	Floral Heart	Hearts
Option + 2767	❧	Rotated Floral Heart Bullet	Hearts
Option + 2776	❶	Negative Circled Digit One	Numbers
Option + 2777	❷	Negative Circled Digit Two	Numbers
Option + 2778	❸	Negative Circled Digit Three	Numbers
Option + 2779	❹	Negative Circled Digit Four	Numbers
Option + 277A	❺	Negative Circled Digit Five	Numbers
Option + 277B	❻	Negative Circled Digit Six	Numbers
Option + 277C	❼	Negative Circled Digit Seven	Numbers
Option + 277D	❽	Negative Circled Digit Eight	Numbers
Option + 277E	❾	Negative Circled Digit Nine	Numbers
Option + 277F	❿	Negative Circled Digit Ten	Numbers
Option + 2780	➀	Circled Sans-serif Digit One	Numbers
Option + 2781	➁	Circled Sans-serif Digit Two	Numbers
Option + 2782	➂	Circled Sans-serif Digit Three	Numbers
Option + 2783	➃	Circled Sans-serif Digit Four	Numbers
Option + 2784	➄	Circled Sans-serif Digit Five	Numbers
Option + 2785	➅	Circled Sans-serif Digit Six	Numbers
Option + 2786	➆	Circled Sans-serif Digit Seven	Numbers
Option + 2787	➇	Circled Sans-serif Digit Eight	Numbers
Option + 2788	➈	Circled Sans-serif Digit Nine	Numbers
Option + 2789	➉	Circled Sans-serif Digit Ten	Numbers
Option + 2798	➘	Bold South East Arrow	Arrows
Option + 2799	➙	Bold Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 279A	➚	Bold North East Arrow	Arrows
Option + 279B	➛	Drafting Point Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 279C	➜	Bold Round Tipped Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 279D	➝	Triangle Head Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 279E	➞	Bold Triangle Head Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 279F	➟	Dashed Triangle Head Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A0	➠	Bold Dashed Triangle Head Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A1	➡	Black Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A2	➢	3D Top Lighted Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A3	➣	3D Bottom Lighted Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A4	➤	Black Right Arrow Head	Arrows
Option + 27A5	➥	Bold Down Curved Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A6	➦	Bold Up Curved Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A7	➧	Squat Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A8	➨	Bold Concave Black Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27A9	➩	Right Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27AA	➪	Left Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27AB	➫	Back Tilted Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27AC	➬	Front Tilted Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27AD	➭	Bold Lower Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27AE	➮	Bold Upper Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27AF	➯	Notched Lower Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B0	➰	Curly Loop	Symbol
Option + 27B1	➱	Notched Upper Shadowed White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B2	➲	Circled Bold White Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B3	➳	White Feathered Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B4	➴	Black Feathered South East Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B5	➵	Black Feathered Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B6	➶	Black Feathered North East Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B7	➷	Bold Black Feathered South East Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B8	➸	Bold Black Feathered Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27B9	➹	Bold Black Feathered North East Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27BA	➺	Teardrop Barbed Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27BB	➻	Bold Teardrop Shanked Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27BC	➼	Wedge Tailed Right Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27BD	➽	Heavy Wedge Tailed Rightwards Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27BE	➾	Open Outlined Rightwards Arrow	Arrows
Option + 27BF	➿	Double Curly Loop	Symbol
Option + 20A3	₣	French Franc	Currency
Option + 20A4	₤	British Pound	Currency
Option + 20A5	₥	Mill Sign	Currency
Option + 20A6	₦	Nigerian Naira	Currency
Option + 20A7	₧	Spanish Peseta	Currency
Option + 20A8	₨	Indian Rupee	Currency
Option + 20A9	₩	South Korean Won	Currency
Option + 20AA	₪	Israeli New Sheqel	Currency
Option + 20AB	₫	Vietnamese Dong	Currency
Option + 20AC	€	Euro Sign	Currency
Option + 20AD	₭	Laos Kip	Currency
Option + 20AE	₮	Mongolian Tugrik	Currency
Option + 20AF	₯	Greece Drachma	Currency
Option + 20B0	₰	German Penny Sign	Currency
Option + 20B1	₱	Philippine Peso	Currency
Option + 20B2	₲	Paraguayan Guarani	Currency
Option + 20B3	₳	Argentine Austral	Currency
Option + 20B4	₴	Ukrainian Hryvnia	Currency
Option + 20B5	₵	Cent Sign	Currency
Option + 20B9	₹	Indian Rupee Symbol	Currency
Option + 20BA	₺	Turkish Lira	Currency
Option + 20BD	₽	Russian Ruble	Currency
Option + 2211	∑	Summation Sign	Math
Option + 2213	∓	Minus or Plus Sign	Math
Option + 221A	√	Square Root	Math
Option + 221B	∛	Cube Root	Math
Option + 221C	∜	Fourth Root	Math
Option + 221D	∝	Proportional to	Math
Option + 221E	∞	Infinity	Math
Option + 221F	∟	Right Angle	Math
Option + 2221	∡	Measured Angle	Math
Option + 2225	∥	Parallel to	Math
Option + 222B	∫	Integral	Math
Option + 222C	∬	Double Integral	Math
Option + 222E	∮	Contour Integral	Math
Option + 222F	∯	Surface Integral	Math
Option + 2234	∴	Therefore	Math
Option + 2235	∵	Because	Math
Option + 2237	∷	Proportion	Math
Option + 223A	∺	Geometric Proportion	Math
Option + 2243	≃	Asymptotically Equal to	Math
Option + 2600	☀	Black Sun with Rays	Weather
Option + 2601	☁	Cloud	Weather
Option + 2602	☂	Umbrella	Weather
Option + 2603	☃	Snowman	Weather
Option + 2604	☄	Comet	Weather
Option + 2605	★	Black Star	Weather
Option + 2606	☆	White Star	Weather
Option + 2607	☇	Lightning	Weather
Option + 2608	☈	Thunderstorm	Weather
Option + 2609	☉	Sun Symbol	Weather
Option + 260E	☎	Black Telephone	Symbol
Option + 260F	☏	White Telephone	Symbol
Option + 2611	☑	Ballot Box with Check	Check
Option + 2612	☒	Ballot Box with Cross	Cross
Option + 2613	☓	Cross Mark	Cross
Option + 261A	☚	Black Hand with Left Pointing Index	Symbol
Option + 261B	☛	Black Hand with Right Pointing Index	Symbol
Option + 261C	☜	White Hand with Left Pointing Index	Symbol
Option + 261D	☝	White Hand with Up Pointing Index	Symbol
Option + 261E	☞	White Hand with Right Pointing Index	Symbol
Option + 261F	☟	White Hand with Down Pointing Index	Symbol
Option + 2620	☠	Skull and Crossbones	Symbol
Option + 263A	☺	White Smiling Face	Symbol
Option + 263B	☻	Black Smiling Face	Symbol
Option + 263C	☼	White Sun with Rays	Weather
Option + 263D	☽	First Quarter Moon	Weather
Option + 263E	☾	Last Quarter Moon	Weather
Option + 2640	♀	Female Symbol	Symbol
Option + 2642	♂	Male Symbol	Symbol
Option + 2648	♈	Aries	Zodiac
Option + 2649	♉	Taurus	Zodiac
Option + 264A	♊	Gemini	Zodiac
Option + 264B	♋	Cancer	Zodiac
Option + 264C	♌	Leo	Zodiac
Option + 264D	♍	Virgo	Zodiac
Option + 264E	♎	Libra	Zodiac
Option + 264F	♏	Scorpio	Zodiac
Option + 2650	♐	Sagittarius	Zodiac
Option + 2651	♑	Capricorn	Zodiac
Option + 2652	♒	Aquarius	Zodiac
Option + 2653	♓	Pisces	Zodiac
Option + 2654	♔	White Chess King	Sports
Option + 2655	♕	White Chess Queen	Sports
Option + 2656	♖	White Chess Rook	Sports
Option + 2657	♗	White Chess Bishop	Sports
Option + 2658	♘	White Chess Knight	Sports
Option + 2659	♙	White Chess Pawn	Sports
Option + 265A	♚	Black Chess King	Sports
Option + 265B	♛	Black Chess Queen	Sports
Option + 265C	♜	Black Chess Rook	Sports
Option + 265D	♝	Black Chess Bishop	Sports
Option + 265E	♞	Black Chess Knight	Sports
Option + 265F	♟	Black Chess Pawn	Sports
Option + 2660	♠	Black Spade Suit	Sports
Option + 2661	♡	White Hearts Suit	Sports
Option + 2662	♢	White Spade Suit	Sports
Option + 2663	♣	Black Club Suit	Sports
Option + 2664	♤	White Spade Suit	Sports
Option + 2665	♥	Black Hearts Suit	Sports
Option + 2666	♦	Black Diamond Suit	Sports
Option + 2667	♧	White Club Suit	Sports
Option + 2669	♩	Crotchet or Quarter note	Music
Option + 266A	♪	Quaver or Eighth note	Music
Option + 266B	♫	Musical Single Bar	Music
Option + 266C	♬	Musical Double Bar	Music
Option + 266D	♭	Music Flat Sign	Music
Option + 266E	♮	Music Natural Sign	Music
Option + 266F	♯	Music Sharp Sign	Music

Using Alt Keys in Mac

You can use one of the option keys on your keyboard to use the shortcuts. For example, press “Option + Shift + =” keys together to make plus or minus symbol like ±.

Using Option or Alt Keys in Mac Keyboard

Similar to any other text content, you can increase or decrease the font size of the symbols and apply colors in Mac.

Typing Accented Characters with Alt Key

You can use the below shortcuts as a reference to insert accented characters in Mac. Remember, while option + a will produce å, you don’t need to press and hold the option key in most cases. For example, pressing option + u will produce umlaut with the two dots above like ¨. Now you can leave the keys and type e to produce ë.

Accent	Example	Small Letter	Capital Letter
Acute	á Á	[Option + E] Vowel	[Option + E] [Shift + Vowel]
Circumflex	â Â	[Option + I] Vowel	[Option + I] [Shift + Vowel]
Grave	à À	[Option + `] Vowel	[Option + `] [Shift + Vowel]
Umlaut	ë Ë	[Option + U] Vowel	[Option + U] [Shift + Vowel]
Cedilla	ç Ç	Option + C	Option + Shift + C
Eszett	ß	Option + S	Option + S

Alternatively, press and hold a special letter key to view additional options similar to iPhone or iPad keyboard. In order to show the options in capital letters, press and hold shift with the special key.

Check out our article to get the completed list of 500+ keyboard shortcuts to type accented characters in Mac.

Using Unicode Hex Input

Mac offers different keyboard input methods to type in a language different than your standard keyboard layout. You can change the input method to Unicode Hex Input and type keyboard characters and accented letters. For example, after switching to Unicode Hex Input, open Pages and type Option + 0024 to insert $ symbol. You need to use this method for most of the shortcuts in the above table.

Inserting Emojis and Special Symbols

Similar to Windows Character Map, Mac has a Character Viewer tool to insert emojis, symbols and special characters in any text content. Press, “Command + Control + Space” or “Fn + E” keys to open Character Viewer and insert the symbol you need.

Alternatively, you can also select “Show Emoji & Symbols” option from the “Input menu” icon in the top menu bar.

In Character Viewer, you can search for letters under “Latin” group or search breve or macron to find all relevant letters.

Wrapping Up

Many users think alt code shortcuts are useful only in Windows operating system. However, you can also use option or alt key in your Mac to insert symbols and special characters. In addition, you can also use Character Viewer to insert emojis and symbols in all Mac documents.

Tags: Alt Code Apple Emoji Keyboard macOS Option Code Unicode

28 Comments

About Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WebNots are team members who love to build websites, find tech hacks and share the learning with community.

28 Comments

Leave your reply.

Ariana Ibarra
· Reply

July 23, 2023 at 6:38 AM

thank you for the help!
Mark E C lason
· Reply

July 8, 2023 at 4:16 AM

Howzabout a down arrow?
- Editorial Staff
  · Reply
  
  Author
  
  July 8, 2023 at 1:12 PM
  
  You can check this article – https://www.webnots.com/how-to-insert-left-right-up-and-down-arrow-symbols-in-mac/
Kathleen Maasberg
· Reply

July 6, 2021 at 2:15 AM

Thank you so much for this information! I had been searching for a way to add music notes to text (on a Mac) and your easy to follow directions were perfect. With great gratitude, Kathleen
Lu Mahalo
· Reply

September 24, 2020 at 3:06 AM

How can I create my own emojis and flags to add to my symbols on a Mac?

Thanks
Maurice
· Reply

April 21, 2020 at 3:08 PM

What iff the 0 key is not wordking and you would use the “alt”option it’s impossible to type 0

“option”+ 0030 = 0 on a Mac
“ALT”+48 = 0 on Windows

why not use the same on WIndows and Mac ???
not well thought Apple .
- William Olson
  · Reply
  
  May 23, 2020 at 6:30 AM
  
  They actually are the same on Windows and Mac, except Mac uses the Hexadecimal numbering system and Windows uses decimal. 30 in hex is 3×16+0=48, same number as Windows uses.
  - WebNots Admin
    · Reply
    
    June 8, 2020 at 12:04 AM
    
    That’s right. However, adding 0 prefix is needed in many cases to type 4 digit code. This is to avoid it does not conflict with default shortcuts in the system.
    
    In addition, only 4 digit hexadecimal codes will work in Mac and you should change the input method. These two are not required in Windows PC.
    - Grisha Panikovsky
      · Reply
      
      September 25, 2020 at 11:09 PM
      
      I’m having the same problem as Maurice (see above). 5 keys on my MacBook Air (mid 2011) just stopped functioning. Namely: F1, `, 2, W and S. (I’m using virtual keyboard to type these characters).
      
      I was told that the problem is in electrical circuitry inside the keyboard which is not repairable any more (obsolete). I’ve been trying to find a workaround through the Mac OS equivalent of the Windows Alt+xx keystrokes. But what I’ve found so far is just code shortcuts for special characters while what I need are regular characters mentioned above.
      
      I’d be most grateful if you could suggest where I should be looking. Thank you.
      GP
Richard Stone
· Reply

February 1, 2020 at 10:06 AM

Is there a Mac keyboard shortcut for Metre squared.
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  June 8, 2020 at 12:07 AM
  
  Option + 00B2 will create a superscript like (10 m²). Hope that is what you want. It is already in the above table with the name as Power of Two.
Ray
· Reply

December 20, 2019 at 6:33 PM

Where can I find and copy the symbols on my Mac keys for Shift, CNTRL, ALT and CMD?
Thanks.
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  June 8, 2020 at 12:11 AM
  
  Check out this article – https://www.webnots.com/mac-os-x-keyboard-shortcuts/
  
  Otherwise, you should look for Apple support page to get some keyboard shortcuts.
Ross
· Reply

December 9, 2019 at 2:02 AM

I’m looking for a Windows app that would let me use the Alt key like the option key on mac so I can easily type special characters while using Windows.

Any ideas? Thanks :)
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  December 9, 2019 at 11:04 AM
  
  You can check this article for Windows alt code shortcuts – https://www.webnots.com/alt-key-windows-shortcuts/.
  
  Alternatively, you can use emoji keyboard (Win + :) or Character Map app that is similar to Mac Character Viewer app.
John
· Reply

September 14, 2019 at 4:43 PM

Is it possible to type the characters eth (Ð upper case and ð lowercase) and thorn (Þ uppercase and þ lowercase) both used today in Icelandic, and in Old English, Middle English, and Faroese (for eth), and in Old English, Gothic, Old Norse and Old Swedish (for thorn)?
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  September 20, 2019 at 2:27 AM
  
  Use Unicode Hex Input keyboard layout:
  
  Ð – Latin Small Letter Eth – Option + 00D0
  ð – Latin Capital Letter Eth – Option + 00F0
Richard Brooke
· Reply

August 21, 2019 at 5:57 PM

Thanks for this information. It’s extremely helpful.
Anita
· Reply

July 17, 2019 at 3:15 PM

How to insert a number as subscript or superscript on Mac while on google sites( new)
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  June 8, 2020 at 12:13 AM
  
  Check this article may help you – https://www.webnots.com/alt-code-shortcuts-for-superscript-and-subscript/
Dipikaa
· Reply

January 30, 2019 at 2:32 PM

the keyboard shortcut for division does not work, is there any other alternative???
kindly suggest.
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  April 15, 2019 at 12:34 AM
  
  We have checked in Pages and Keynote – it works perfectly fine on MacBook Pro.
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  June 8, 2020 at 12:14 AM
  
  We have also created separate article on typing division sign / emoji, check out the details here – https://www.webnots.com/keyboard-shortcuts-for-division-sign/
Basri Gashi
· Reply

November 21, 2018 at 12:07 PM

How in the world can I get these two letters Ë,ë tiped in on my MacBook Pro ????
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  April 15, 2019 at 12:35 AM
  
  The shortcuts are updated to type accented letters, you can check.
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  June 8, 2020 at 12:15 AM
  
  We have created a complete list for accented letters for Mac here – https://www.webnots.com/4-ways-to-type-accented-letters-in-mac/
Katie
· Reply

April 23, 2017 at 2:39 AM

Hello,
I need to insert a breve over an ‘a’. If I use option+shift+. I get the breve but not the ‘a’. How do get both at the same time?

Thanks,
Katie
- WebNots Admin
  · Reply
  
  April 15, 2019 at 12:39 AM
  
  You can use character viewer to insert breve mark on the letters.

Alt Code Shortcuts for Mac to Insert Symbols