Mac users are familiar with the variety of symbols which appear in menus to denote keyboard shortcuts. These symbols correspond with modifier keys and have unique names. However, some symbols are more obvious than others, and it can be difficult to create the symbols themselves.
However, all keyboard shortcut symbols are part of the Unicode character set, which is similar to ASCII in some ways, but capable of representing many more symbols. Below is the list of common modifier key symbols currently supported on our site.
| Symbol | Description | Site Placeholder | HTML Entity | Code Point | Unicode Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⌘ | Command | [Command] | ⌘ | U+2318 | PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN |
| ⌥ | Option (alt) | [Option] | ⌥ | U+2325 | OPTION KEY |
| ⌃ | Control (ctrl) | [Control] | ⌃ | U+2303 | UP ARROWHEAD |
| ⇧ | Shift | [Shift] | ⇧ | U+21E7 | UPWARDS WHITE ARROW |
| ⇪ | Caps Lock | [CapsLock] | ⇪ | U+21EA | UPWARDS WHITE ARROW FROM BAR |
| ↩ | Return | [Return] | ↩ | U+21A9 | LEFTWARDS ARROW WITH HOOK |
| ⌤ | Enter | [Enter] | ⌤ | U+2324 | UP ARROWHEAD BETWEEN TWO HORIZONTAL BARS |
| ⌫ | Delete | [Delete] | ⌫ | U+232B | ERASE TO THE LEFT |
| ⌦ | Forward Delete | [ForwardDelete] | ⌦ | U+2326 | ERASE TO THE RIGHT |
| ⎋ | Escape (esc) | [Escape] | ⎋ | U+238B | BROKEN CIRCLE WITH NORTHWEST ARROW |
| ▸ | Menu Item | [MenuItem] | ▸ | U+25B8 | BLACK RIGHT-POINTING SMALL TRIANGLE |
| ⏏ | Eject | [Eject] | ⏏ | U+23CF | EJECT SYMBOL |
| ⌽ | Power | [Power] | ⌽ | U+233D | APL FUNCTIONAL SYMBOL CIRCLE STILE |
| ⇥ | Tab | [Tab] | ⇥ | U+21E5 | RIGHTWARDS ARROW TO BAR |
| ⇞ | Page Up | [PageUp] | ⇞ | U+21DE | UPWARDS ARROW WITH DOUBLE STROKE |
| ⇟ | Page Down | [PageDown] | ⇟ | U+21DF | DOWNWARDS ARROW WITH DOUBLE STROKE |
| ↖ | Home | [Home] | ↖ | U+2196 | NORTH WEST ARROW |
| ↘ | End | [End] | ↘ | U+2198 | SOUTH EAST ARROW |
| ← | Left Arrow | [LeftArrow] | ← | U+2190 | LEFTWARDS ARROW |
| → | Right Arrow | [RightArrow] | → | U+2192 | RIGHTWARDS ARROW |
| ↑ | Up Arrow | [UpArrow] | ↑ | U+2191 | UPWARDS ARROW |
| ↓ | Down Arrow | [DownArrow] | ↓ | U+2193 | DOWNWARDS ARROW |