How to type Clockwise Arrow
To type Clockwise Arrow (↻), press Alt + 8635 on Windows, holding Alt while typing the digits on the numeric keypad, or write ↻ in HTML. On any system you can copy it from this page, or enter its codepoint U+21BB directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 21bb on Linux, or 21bb then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Clockwise Open Circle Arrow
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+21BB
- Windows
- Alt + 8635 needs regedit
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 8635 | Above 255, so Windows will not accept it as typed. Copy the character instead. |
| Mac | N/A | Press the keys together. |
| HTML | ↻ | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+21BB | CLOCKWISE OPEN CIRCLE ARROW |
Symbols related to Clockwise Arrow
These are filed under circle and arrow in CLDR, the keyword list Unicode publishes alongside the names.
Other arrows symbols
↻ lives in the Arrows block (U+2190-U+21FF), arrows in every direction and weight. Within Unicode it is classified as So, a symbol.
What Clockwise Arrow is used for
In mathematical notation ↻ is an ordinary symbol: it carries no special spacing and sits in an expression the way a letter does, standing for a thing rather than doing something to the things around it. That is the classification unicode-math gives it, and it is what decides how the symbol is set: $\cwopencirclearrow$ in LaTeX, in maths mode rather than in a sentence.
Unicode publishes a second list of names for ↻ in CLDR, the keywords its own search data offers rather than the formal name, and it is clockwise open circle arrow. That word is what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Clockwise Arrow is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches it as well as the Unicode name.
How Clockwise Arrow behaves in software
↻ takes one column in a terminal. It carries no direction of its own, so in a line that mixes English with Arabic or Hebrew it takes the direction of the text around it rather than forcing one.
Every way to write Clockwise Arrow
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+21BB |
| Decimal | 8635 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 86 BB |
| UTF-16 bytes | 21 BB |
| HTML entity | ↻ |
| HTML numeric | ↻ or ↻ |
| CSS | \21BB |
| JavaScript | \u21BB |
| Python | \u21BB |
| URL-encoded | %E2%86%BB |
| LaTeX, in maths mode | $\cwopencirclearrow$ |
| SVG | 21BB.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ↻ arrives as ↻
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 86 BB are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.