Arrow symbols and their meanings
The plain arrows come from the Unicode Arrows block and work in almost every font, which makes them the safest choice for text, code comments and documents. reads as leads to, becomes or next; and mean increase and decrease, or see above and see below; and mean both ways, swap or resize.
Double arrows carry logic rather than direction. means implies or therefore, means if and only if or is equivalent to, and the long forms are what maths papers use. (maps to) and (a reversible reaction in chemistry) are the other technical ones people look for.
Curved and circular arrows describe actions: reply or undo, forward or redo, refresh, rotate back, a sub-item or a reply in a thread, and the Return key.
Arrow emoji vs text arrows
are the same code points as text arrows, but with an invisible emoji selector added they become little arrow-on-a-key pictures in colour. Use the emoji form in chats and social posts where you want the arrow to stand out, and the text form ( ) when it sits inside a sentence and should match the font.
Some arrow emoji only exist as emoji: and for refresh or sync, for repeat, for shuffle, and the five word arrows BACK, END, ON!, SOON and TOP, which came to Unicode from Japanese phone carriers. The media buttons are arrows too, and pointing hands do the job with more personality.
How to type an arrow symbol on the keyboard
In Microsoft Word, AutoCorrect turns --> into an arrow and ==> into a bold arrow (also <-- and <==), but these are Wingdings font characters, not the real and . For a true Unicode arrow, type its code and press AltX: 2192 gives , 2190 , 2191 , 2193 , 21D2 .
On Windows, many programs accept the old numeric-keypad codes Alt26 , Alt27 , Alt24 and Alt25 . On a Mac, press CtrlCmdSpace and search "arrow" in the Character Viewer; on phones, search "arrow" in the emoji keyboard. In HTML, write → ← ↑ ↓ ↔ or ⇒.
In Excel and Google Sheets, =UNICHAR(8594) returns , =UNICHAR(8593) and =UNICHAR(8595) , which is handy for trend columns.
Arrows for buttons, menus and aesthetic bios
Interface text leans on a small set: › and » for "next" and breadcrumbs (Home › Shop › Shoes), for collapsed and expanded menus, for sort order, for Shift, for Tab and for Escape. They are all text characters, so they scale and recolour with the font.
For Instagram and TikTok bios, the decorative Dingbat arrows give a lighter, handmade look; and look like little feathered arrows, and or work nicely in front of a link. Long, rare arrows from the Supplemental Arrows blocks may show as empty boxes on older phones, so test them before you post.
Symbole
471Klicke auf ein Symbol, um es zu kopieren und seine Seite zu öffnen.
Arrows in every direction
Fancy right arrows
Dingbat arrows, most of them only point right.
Play buttons, triangles and arrowheads
Angle brackets and chevrons
Curved, bent and turning arrows
Paired, multiple and two-headed
Harpoons, dashed and wavy
Barbed arrows
Arrowhead sizes
How to use them
5 situationsZum Kopieren klickenArrow Symbols combos
12Wissenswert
- (upwards white arrow) is the Shift key symbol printed on Mac keyboards, and / are the Return key; the Escape symbol comes from the ISO keyboard symbol standard.
- The heavy arrows sit in the Dingbats block, which Unicode based on the ITC Zapf Dingbats typeface designed by Hermann Zapf.
- (downwards zigzag arrow) is often used as a lightning or "electric" sign, and TOP started life on Japanese phones before becoming standard emoji in Unicode 6.0 (2010).
- Unicode has several hundred arrow characters, most of them in six blocks — Arrows, Supplemental Arrows-A, B and C, Dingbats, and Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows.
Häufige Fragen
7How do I copy and paste arrow symbols?
Click or tap any arrow on this page and it is copied; then paste it anywhere with CtrlV (CmdV on a Mac, long-press on a phone). The plain arrows work in every app.
How do I type the right arrow symbol on the keyboard?
In Word type --> and AutoCorrect turns it into an arrow (a Wingdings character), or type 2192 then AltX. On Windows, Alt26 on the number pad also gives in many programs. On a Mac, open the Character Viewer with CtrlCmdSpace and search "arrow".
How do I insert an arrow symbol in Word?
Use Insert › Symbol and pick the Arrows subset, use the AutoCorrect shortcuts --> and ==> (they insert Wingdings arrows), or type a code like 2191 () followed by AltX.
What is the difference between the arrow emoji and the arrow symbol?
is a text arrow (, U27A1) shown in emoji style: a coloured picture that ignores your font. is plain text that takes the font's colour and size. Both are free to copy here.
What does mean?
is the double right arrow. In maths and logic it means "implies"; in notes it usually means "therefore" or "which leads to". means "if and only if".
Which arrows look aesthetic in a bio?
Light decorative arrows such as and look handmade and elegant; are bolder. Keep to one style per bio so it looks deliberate.
Why does an arrow show as a box?
The font on that device has no drawing for it. Common arrows like are safe everywhere; newer ones from the Supplemental Arrows blocks (for example or ) can fail on older phones and Windows versions.
