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variation selector-5

Variation Selector-5

Variation Selector-5 (FE04) invisibly changes the preceding character’s shape, but only in an approved pair. Unsupported pairs leave it unchanged; FE0F requests emoji presentation.

Text symbol
Also called
VS5 · FE04 · U+FE04
Search it as
invisible character · Egyptian hieroglyph
Shows up in
Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ︄ means

It changes a character’s shape only in an approved pair.

A variation sequence puts a selector after its base. General-purpose selectors were proposed in 2000, after Mongolian already had script-specific selectors. They let plain text request a shape usually controlled by font or rich-text styling; FE00–FE0F entered Unicode in 2002.

Only listed pairs work; otherwise FE04 is ignored and remains invisible.

Technical-only: FE04 selects a character shape.

FE04 is not the emoji switch; FE0F requests emoji presentation.

Don't confuse it with

4
︀
Variation Selector-1
shares “selector”, “variation”
︁
Variation Selector-2
shares “selector”, “variation”
︂
Variation Selector-3
shares “selector”, “variation”
︃
Variation Selector-4
shares “selector”, “variation”

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 FE04, 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 “variation selector-5”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType fe04, then Enter or Space.
HTML
︄
CSS
\FE04
Unicode input
To type FE04, place it after a base with a listed FE04 variant in a Unicode-aware editor.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
︄
HTML hex
︄
CSS content
content: "\FE04";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%EF%B8%84
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

Accents & marks659 symbols

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