What / means
It separates items or stands for a relationship. The slash symbol can mean “or” in yes/no, “per” in km/h, or division in 6/2. Read the surrounding words or numbers before choosing a meaning.
Compact in notation; potentially ambiguous in prose.
If your reader needs to distinguish “and” from “or,” write the word.
What it means when someone sends it to you
3 readingsBetween choices in a message
An alternative, though “and” versus “or” can be unclear.
Between quoted poetry lines
A line break preserved within one running line.
Inside a shared web address
Separates parts of the path after the website name.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Do I put spaces around it?
Usually no. Dates and compact alternatives stay unspaced. For quoted poetry, use spaces: "roses are red / violets are blue".
How to type /
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 002F, then Alt+X to get /.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “solidus”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 002f, then Enter or Space.
HTML
/CSS
\002FCodes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
/
HTML hex
/
CSS content
content: "\002F";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%2F
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
1
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.