What means
It is a visible form of an older computer’s delete mark. The TRS-80 delete symbol appeared as a rectangular checkerboard in that machine’s character set. In Unicode text, displays this mark; it does not erase surrounding text. The exact cell pattern is left to the typeface, so drawings can vary.
Historical character-set tables connect this rectangular form with the character sets of TRS-80, HP 264x, and Sharp MZ. Apple II and Amstrad CPC used different delete forms. These records point to distinct machine-specific designs, not one shared delete picture.
Technical and historical in tone; it points to a specific legacy computer display form.
Typing displays a character; it does not issue a delete command.
Part of the collection
Don't confuse it with
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
8
How to type or find
- Search it as
- delete symbol · TRS-80 delete · TRS80 delete · rectangular checkerboard delete · U+2428 · general delete control picture
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
␨\2428Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.