What counts as a special character in a password?

When a sign-up form asks for one or more special characters, it usually means one of the 32 keyboard symbols in the table, such as ! # $ % or @, and some rules also count a space. Which ones a site accepts is that site's choice, so if one is refused, try another from the table. Copy the symbol you need and paste it straight into the password field: text you build here stays in this browser's storage until you press Start over, so do not build a whole password on this page.

Why does Shift and 2 give a different character on my keyboard?

The table gives the keys for a US layout. Other layouts move several symbols: on a UK keyboard Shift and 2 types ", Shift and 3 types £ and @ is Shift and the ' key, and many European layouts put symbols such as @, [ and { on AltGr combinations. Clicking a symbol here and copying it gives the same character whatever your layout.

Why do some characters have two names?

The everyday name is what people usually call the character, and the Unicode name is its fixed formal name, which never changes once assigned: / is a slash to most people and SOLIDUS to Unicode. The search box finds a character by a word from its Unicode name, and also by an older Unicode name where it has one, such as slash or backslash.

Keyboard Special Characters

The symbols on a standard keyboard that are not letters or digits, from ! and @ to { and ~, open first in the grid, and the table below the tool gives each one's everyday name, Unicode name and US key. Click any of them to build a string and copy it, or keep going with the common symbols underneath.

searchkeyboard symbols and common characters

Keyboard symbols and common characters are below. To search all 159,801 named characters, type above: the Unicode 17.0.0 names file, 2.2 MB, loads from this site when you do.

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Select a character and use Add to favorites to keep it here.

Keyboard symbols

Symbols

Currency

Quotes and dashes

Arrows and math

Marks and shapes

Hearts

Spaces and invisible characters

your text0 code points

Your text, with invisible characters labelled: Pick characters from the grid, or type or paste below.

Or start from an example, added to your text as it is:

Selected: none yet

Code points: 0 of 1,000

UTF-8: 0 bytes

UTF-16: 0 units

Unicode: 17.0.0

Your text in other forms

JavaScriptstring literal, \u and \u{...}
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Pythonstring literal, \u and \U
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HTMLnumeric character references
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CSSstring, for content: and selectors
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URLpercent-encoded UTF-8
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Regexpattern matching the text literally
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Code pointsU+ notation
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UTF-8 byteshex, one byte each
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UTF-16 unitshex, surrogate pairs shown as two
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Source. Names, code points and categories: Unicode Character Database 17.0.0, UnicodeData.txt, a copy served from this site (2.2 MB) and checked against its SHA-256 fingerprint before use. Distributed under the Unicode License v3; see also the Unicode 17.0.0 release. Script groups are read from character names, not from Unicode's Script property.

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The 32 special characters on a US keyboard

The printable ASCII characters that are neither letters nor digits. The Unicode name is given where it differs from the everyday one, and the keys are for a US layout. Each one is in the tool's Keyboard symbols row, ready to add and copy.

Character	Name and code point	US keyboard
!	Exclamation mark, U+0021	Shift + 1
"	Double quote, U+0022 QUOTATION MARK	Shift + '
#	Hash, number or pound sign, U+0023 NUMBER SIGN	Shift + 3
$	Dollar sign, U+0024	Shift + 4
%	Percent sign, U+0025	Shift + 5
&	Ampersand, U+0026	Shift + 7
'	Apostrophe or single quote, U+0027 APOSTROPHE	' key
(	Left parenthesis, U+0028	Shift + 9
)	Right parenthesis, U+0029	Shift + 0
*	Asterisk, U+002A	Shift + 8
+	Plus sign, U+002B	Shift + =
,	Comma, U+002C	, key
-	Hyphen or minus, U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS	- key
.	Period or full stop, U+002E FULL STOP	. key
/	Slash or forward slash, U+002F SOLIDUS	/ key
:	Colon, U+003A	Shift + ;
;	Semicolon, U+003B	; key
<	Less-than sign, U+003C	Shift + ,
=	Equals sign, U+003D	= key
>	Greater-than sign, U+003E	Shift + .
?	Question mark, U+003F	Shift + /
@	At sign, U+0040 COMMERCIAL AT	Shift + 2
[	Left square bracket, U+005B	[ key
\	Backslash, U+005C REVERSE SOLIDUS	\ key
]	Right square bracket, U+005D	] key
^	Caret, U+005E CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT	Shift + 6
_	Underscore, U+005F LOW LINE	Shift + -
`	Backtick or grave accent, U+0060 GRAVE ACCENT	` key
{	Left curly brace, U+007B LEFT CURLY BRACKET	Shift + [
\|	Vertical bar or pipe, U+007C VERTICAL LINE	Shift + \
}	Right curly brace, U+007D RIGHT CURLY BRACKET	Shift + ]
~	Tilde, U+007E	Shift + `

Common questions

What counts as a special character in a password?: When a sign-up form asks for one or more special characters, it usually means one of the 32 keyboard symbols in the table, such as ! # $ % or @, and some rules also count a space. Which ones a site accepts is that site's choice, so if one is refused, try another from the table. Copy the symbol you need and paste it straight into the password field: text you build here stays in this browser's storage until you press Start over, so do not build a whole password on this page.
Why does Shift and 2 give a different character on my keyboard?: The table gives the keys for a US layout. Other layouts move several symbols: on a UK keyboard Shift and 2 types ", Shift and 3 types £ and @ is Shift and the ' key, and many European layouts put symbols such as @, [ and { on AltGr combinations. Clicking a symbol here and copying it gives the same character whatever your layout.
Why do some characters have two names?: The everyday name is what people usually call the character, and the Unicode name is its fixed formal name, which never changes once assigned: / is a slash to most people and SOLIDUS to Unicode. The search box finds a character by a word from its Unicode name, and also by an older Unicode name where it has one, such as slash or backslash.

Names, code points and categories come from the Unicode Character Database 17.0.0, served from this site under the Unicode License v3, and the text you copy holds exactly the code points listed, with characters above U+FFFF kept whole. How a character looks depends on the fonts on your device, so an empty box can mean a missing font rather than a missing character, and invisible characters are labelled because they cannot be seen. Keyboard Alt codes are not listed, since they differ by system and layout.