Need to find the Unicode code point for a special character or emoji? Our free online Unicode lookup tool helps developers, designers, and writers quickly find Unicode information for any character. Simply enter a character to see its code point, HTML entities, CSS escape codes, and UTF-8 encoding. Or search by code point (U+XXXX format) to find the corresponding character. The tool supports all Unicode characters including emojis, mathematical symbols, currency signs, arrows, and characters from every writing system. Perfect for web development, data processing, and working with multilingual text. All lookups happen instantly in your browser with no data sent to servers.
What is Unicode and Why It Matters
Unicode is the universal character encoding standard that assigns a unique number (code point) to every character in virtually all writing systems used worldwide. Before Unicode, different regions used different encoding systems (like ASCII for English, GB2312 for Chinese, Shift-JIS for Japanese), causing compatibility nightmares when text was shared across systems. Unicode solved this by creating a single, unified standard that can represent over 140,000 characters from 150+ scripts. The Unicode Consortium continuously updates the standard to add new characters, including the popular emojis that have become integral to modern digital communication. Today, Unicode (particularly UTF-8 encoding) is the dominant character encoding on the web, used by over 98% of all websites.
Understanding Unicode Code Points and Encodings
- Code Point: A unique hexadecimal number assigned to each character, written as U+ followed by 4-6 hex digits. For example, A is U+0041, and the smiling face emoji is U+1F600.
- UTF-8: The most common Unicode encoding on the web. It uses 1-4 bytes per character, being backward compatible with ASCII for the first 128 characters while efficiently encoding all other Unicode characters.
- HTML Entities: Two formats for representing Unicode in HTML - hexadecimal (😀) and decimal (😀). Both render the same character in browsers.
- CSS Escape: In CSS content property, use backslash followed by the hex code (\1F600). This is essential for icon fonts and generated content.
- JavaScript: Use \uXXXX for characters in the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP), or surrogate pairs for characters beyond U+FFFF.
Common Use Cases for Unicode Lookup
Developers frequently need Unicode information when working with special characters. Web developers use HTML entities to ensure characters display correctly across all browsers and platforms. CSS developers need escape codes for icon fonts like Font Awesome or for content generated via ::before and ::after pseudo-elements. Database engineers verify character encodings when troubleshooting mojibake (garbled text) issues. Linguists and translators work with characters from multiple scripts. Emoji enthusiasts discover the exact codes for their favorite symbols. Security researchers analyze homograph attacks where visually similar Unicode characters are used for phishing. This tool streamlines all these workflows by providing instant access to all relevant Unicode information.
Understanding Unicode Categories
Unicode organizes characters into categories that help software handle them appropriately. Letters are divided into uppercase (Lu), lowercase (Ll), and titlecase (Lt). Numbers include decimal digits (Nd), letter numbers like Roman numerals (Nl), and other numeric characters (No). Punctuation covers connectors, dashes, quotes, and more. Symbols include mathematical operators, currency signs, and miscellaneous symbols. Separators handle spaces and line/paragraph breaks. Marks are combining characters that modify other characters. Control characters handle formatting. Understanding these categories helps developers properly validate, transform, and display text in multilingual applications.
FAQ
Q: What is the difference between Unicode and UTF-8?
A: Unicode is the standard that defines which characters exist and assigns code points to them. UTF-8 is one of several encoding schemes that defines how those code points are stored as bytes. UTF-8 uses variable-length encoding (1-4 bytes per character) and is backward compatible with ASCII, making it the most popular encoding for web content.
Q: How do I type Unicode characters that are not on my keyboard?
A: Several methods exist: On Windows, hold Alt and type the decimal code on the numpad. On macOS, enable the Unicode Hex Input keyboard and hold Option while typing the hex code. On any system, you can copy characters from this tool or use HTML entities in web pages. Many applications also support entering U+XXXX directly.
Q: Why do some emojis appear as two characters?
A: Some emojis are composed of multiple Unicode code points joined by Zero Width Joiner (ZWJ) sequences. For example, family emojis combine individual person emojis. Skin tone modifiers also add extra code points. This compositional approach allows for the vast variety of emoji combinations without requiring separate code points for each variant.
Q: What is the maximum Unicode code point?
A: Unicode code points range from U+0000 to U+10FFFF, providing space for over 1.1 million possible characters. Currently about 150,000 are assigned, with room for future growth. The Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP, U+0000 to U+FFFF) contains most commonly used characters, while supplementary planes contain emojis, historic scripts, and rare symbols.
Q: How do I handle Unicode in programming?
A: Modern languages like Python 3, JavaScript, and Go have native Unicode support. Always use UTF-8 for file encoding and data exchange. Be aware that string length may differ from display width due to combining characters and emoji. Use Unicode-aware libraries for operations like case conversion, sorting, and regex matching to handle the full range of characters correctly.