What ⧵ means
Its name describes the slash, not a fixed operation. In a formula, the notation must tell you what ⧵ does; its shape alone doesn't specify a calculation.
The 2000 Unicode meeting record first lists U29F5 as a proposed set-difference sign. The committee changed the existing set-minus glyph's angle and renamed U29F5 the reverse solidus operator.
Don't confuse it with
3
Reverse Solidus
The ordinary backslash is U+005C, a general text character. ⧵ is a separate mathematical symbol.
Set Minus
The set-minus sign U+2216 ∖ denotes the difference between two sets: elements in the first that are absent from the second. It is distinct from ⧵.
Mathematical Falling Diagonal
U+27CD is mathematical falling diagonal, a separately encoded mathematical symbol, not ⧵.
Related characters
1
Questions people ask
1Why does ⧵ show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
More like this
11
How to type or find ⧵
- Search it as
- math slash · reverse slash · math backslash · set difference notation · ⧵ symbol · Unicode math operator
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
Windows (Word)
Windows
HTML
⧵CSS
\29F5Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
⧵
HTML hex
⧵
CSS content
content: "\29F5";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%A7%B5
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.