Text Symbols List — Ultimate Collection of Special Characters

Plain text gets boring fast. Maybe you're designing a logo, spicing up a social media bio, creating a document, or just want to add some personality to a message. That's where text symbols come in. These are the Unicode characters that sit outside the regular alphabet and numbers — stars, arrows, hearts, currency signs, mathematical operators, decorative dots, and hundreds more.

The problem? Most of these aren't on your keyboard. You're stuck digging through character maps or memorizing obscure keyboard shortcuts. I've spent years collecting these symbols into organized lists, and now they're all here in one place. Click, copy, done.

What Are Text Symbols?

Text symbols (also called Unicode symbols or special characters) are characters that don't belong to the basic alphanumeric set. They're part of the Unicode standard — a universal character encoding system that includes pretty much every symbol used in human writing, plus a whole lot more.

Unicode has over 149,000 characters. You don't need all of them. You need the ones people actually use — the symbols that make your text pop, add clarity, or express what plain letters can't. That's what this list covers.

Star Symbols ★

Stars are the workhorses of decorative text. They work for ratings, dividers, emphasis, and pure aesthetics.

Stars break down into a few families: five-pointed (★ ☆), four-pointed (✦ ✧), six-pointed (✶), eight-pointed (✴ ✵), and the emoji versions (⭐ 🌟). The filled ★ and outline ☆ are universal — they're on every device and every font. Four-pointed stars ✦ are the darlings of social media aesthetics for their clean, minimal look.

Arrow Symbols →

Arrows indicate direction, flow, movement, or relationships. Simple and universally understood.

Use arrows for: navigation guides, process flow diagrams, pointing to important content, indicating movement or change, or just decorative lines. The curved ↩️ and ↪️ arrows are perfect for "back" buttons or "return" links.

Heart Symbols ❤

Hearts convey love, like, appreciation, or emphasis. The most emotionally loaded symbols on this list.

The text heart ♡ and the bold heart ♥ are Unicode characters, not emojis. They render as simple shapes in any font. The colored hearts ❤️ 🧡 💛 are emojis that look different depending on your device. Use the text versions when you want consistent appearance across platforms.

Currency Symbols $ € £

Money symbols. Essential for financial content, pricing, or just looking professional.

Major ones to know: $ (dollar), € (euro), £ (pound), ¥ (yen), ₹ (rupee), ₿ (bitcoin). The cent symbol ¢ is useful for prices under a dollar. Most of these are on specialized keyboards or require character maps to type directly — hence why copy-paste is so useful.

Math Symbols + − × ÷

Mathematical operators for arithmetic, algebra, calculus, and more.

Greek Letters α β γ

Greek letters are the alphabet of mathematics, science, and fraternities.

Bullet Points • ◆ ▸

Fancy bullets for lists. Way more interesting than the standard black circle.

Dot Symbols • …

Dots, ellipses, separators. Minimal and versatile.

Line and Border Symbols ─ ━ │

Create boxes, dividers, and borders with these line characters.

Bracket and Parenthesis Variations

Different bracket styles for different purposes — grouping, arrays, sets, aesthetics.

Check and Cross Marks ✓ ✗

Right and wrong. Done and not done. Yes and no.

Special Characters & Punctuation

The punctuation marks that don't make it onto standard keyboards.

Weather Symbols ☀ ☁ ☂

Sun, rain, snow, storm. All the weather conditions, ready to paste.

Chess and Card Symbols ♔ ♠

Game pieces for chess, cards, dominoes, and more.

Musical Notes ♪ ♫

Music symbols for lyrics, band names, or just because you like music.

Zodiac and Astrology Symbols ♈ ♉

The 12 zodiac signs plus some additional astrological symbols.

Religious and Spiritual Symbols ☮ ✡

Peace symbols, religious icons, and spiritual markers. Use respectfully and in appropriate contexts.

Geometric Shapes ■ ▲ ●

Squares, circles, triangles, and more. Great for logos, diagrams, or decorative patterns.

Decorative and Ornamental Symbols

These don't fit neat categories but are useful for adding visual interest.

Invisible Characters

Blank spaces and invisible text. Useful for Discord names, Instagram formatting, and situations where you need to "hide" something.

Note: There are multiple types of invisible space characters. The regular space (U+0020) from your keyboard is the most common, but there are others like the thin space, hair space, zero-width space, and Hangul filler (ㅤ). They render differently and have different behaviors in different contexts.

How to Use These Symbols

Copy and Paste

The simplest method: click the symbol you want, copy it, and paste where needed. Works on every device, every app.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Some Symbols)

For frequently used symbols, keyboard shortcuts can be faster:

• Windows: Hold Alt and type the code on the number pad. For example, Alt+0169 for ©, Alt+0174 for ®.
• Mac: Use the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) or specific shortcuts like Option+G for ©.
• Mobile: Long-press keys on the keyboard to access variations. For example, long-press $ to get €, £, ¥.

Emoji Pickers

Most devices have built-in emoji/symbol pickers:

• Windows: Win + . (period) or Win + ;
• Mac: Control + Command + Space
• iOS: Tap the globe/emoji icon on the keyboard
• Android: Tap the emoji icon on the keyboard

Compatibility and Rendering

Most symbols here are standard Unicode and will work everywhere. A few things to know:

• Font differences: The same symbol can look different depending on the font. Times New Roman's ★ isn't the same as Comic Sans's ★.
• Older systems: Very old operating systems (Windows XP, early Android versions) might not have full Unicode support. Some symbols might appear as boxes.
• Plain text environments: Terminal windows, code editors, and some chat apps might not display all symbols correctly.
• Emoji vs. text: Emojis (like ❤️) are colorful graphics that vary by platform. Text symbols (like ♥) are simple shapes that render consistently.

Creative Uses for Text Symbols

Ideas for using these symbols in your content:

• Social media bios: "name ✦ city ✦ age" or "✧ creative ✧"
• Username decoration: "★彡 username 彡★" or "~username~"
• Document dividers: "─ ★ ─" or "✧ ─ ✧ ─ ✧"
• Emphasis in text: Surround important words with sparkles: "✨ SALE ✨"
• Fancy bullet points: Use stars or diamonds instead of circles: ◆ This is important
• Text art: Create simple pictures using line and box characters
• Passwords: Include special characters for stronger passwords (but not spaces or emojis)

Building Your Symbol Toolkit

After years of working with symbols, I've settled on a core set I use constantly:

• Stars: ★ ☆ ✦ ✧
• Arrows: → ← ↑ ↓ ↔
• Hearts: ♡ ♥ ❤
• Dots: · • ◦
• Checks: ✓ ✔ ✅
• Bullets: ◆ ▸ •

These 20 symbols handle 90% of my needs. Add currency symbols ($ € £ ¥) and math operators (+ − × ÷) and you're covered for almost any situation.

Final Thoughts

Text symbols are powerful when used right. They add visual interest, convey meaning quickly, and can transform boring plain text into something engaging. The key is knowing what you have available and using it appropriately.

This list is comprehensive but not exhaustive — Unicode has way more than what's shown here. But for practical purposes, these are the symbols people actually use. The ones that matter. Bookmark this page, copy what you need, and get back to creating.