How to type Identical To
To type Identical To (≡), press Alt + 240 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+2261 directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 2261 on Linux, or 2261 then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Identical To
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+2261
- Windows
- Alt + 240
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 240 | Hold Alt and type the number on the numeric keypad. |
| Mac | N/A | Press the keys together. |
| HTML | ≡ | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+2261 | IDENTICAL TO |
Other math symbols
≡ lives in the Mathematical Operators block (U+2200-U+22FF), the core set of mathematical and logical operators. Within Unicode it is classified as Sm, a mathematical symbol. Software may lay it out with the spacing an operator expects.
What Identical To is used for
In mathematical notation ≡ is a relation: it makes a claim about the two things either side of it, which is true or false rather than a value to work out. TeX gives a relation more space than an operator, and breaks a long line at one in preference to breaking at an operator. That is the classification unicode-math gives it, and it is what decides how the symbol is set: $\equiv$ 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 they are exact and triple. Those words are what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Identical To is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches them as well as the Unicode name.
How Identical To behaves in software
≡ is East Asian Ambiguous: one column in a Western locale and two in a CJK one. That is why a table that lines up on your machine can break on somebody else's, with no change to the text at all. 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.
What people ask about Identical To
What does triple line equal sign mean?
≡ is IDENTICAL TO, encoded at U+2261.
Every way to write Identical To
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+2261 |
| Decimal | 8801 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 89 A1 |
| UTF-16 bytes | 22 61 |
| HTML entity | ≡ |
| HTML numeric | ≡ or ≡ |
| CSS | \2261 |
| JavaScript | \u2261 |
| Python | \u2261 |
| URL-encoded | %E2%89%A1 |
| LaTeX, in maths mode | $\equiv$ |
| SVG | 2261.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ≡ arrives as ≡
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 89 A1 are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.