What ⌗ means
It entered commands on Viewdata.
Viewdata delivered information pages over phone lines; Prestel was its British commercial service. Its first prototype became operational in 1974. The 1976 specification lists square, digits, and star as input keys.
Why does ⌗ look like #?
The number sign is a substitute, not the same character.
Some Viewdata material used # as a stand-in. A 1977 display shows _ where ⌗ belongs.
It reads as a legacy Viewdata or telephone-keypad reference.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions 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.
How to type ⌗
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 2317, 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 “viewdata square”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2317, then Enter or Space.
HTML
⌗CSS
\2317Unicode hex input
In a Unicode character tool that accepts hexadecimal entry, enter `2317`; the `#` key gives a different character.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
⌗
HTML hex
⌗
CSS content
content: "\2317";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%8C%97
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.