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␎

symbol for shift out

Symbol for Shift Out

␎ is the printable SO symbol for the Shift Out control, which selects an alternate character set. Code-extension rules pair SO with Shift In (SI) to return to the standard set; teleprinters used SO to change ribbon colors. The glyph labels the control: inserting ␎ as ordinary text does not perform the shift.

Text symbol
Search it as
SO symbol · SO control character · Shift Out symbol · Control-N · SO SI · ASCII SO
Shows up in
Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ␎ means

␎ is the readable picture of the Shift Out control.

SO is an invisible control code. Teleprinters—machines that printed text sent over a line—used it to switch ribbon colors. ASCII, a standard text code, gave SO a character-set shift role in 1963. Later extension rules used SO to select an alternate graphic set until SI restored the standard set.

Does ␎ itself switch a terminal?

No; ␎ depicts the control but does not execute it.

A terminal changes its character set only when it receives the SO control code. On VT100-style terminals, SO selects G1, an alternate set often containing line-drawing characters; SI restores G0, the standard set. The paired picture ␏ represents SI.

Don't confuse it with

1
␏
Symbol For Shift In
␏ is the Shift In (SI) picture for the return control; ␎ is the Shift Out (SO) picture.

Questions people ask

1

Why 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.

How to type ␎

Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 240E, 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 “symbol for shift out”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 240e, then Enter or Space.
HTML
␎
CSS
\240E
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
␎
HTML hex
␎
CSS content
content: "\240E";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%90%8E
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.

Families this belongs to

1

Control pictures55 symbols

␀␁␂␃␄␅␆␇␈␉␊␋