How to type Left Arrow
To type Left Arrow (←), press Alt + 27 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+2190 directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 2190 on Linux, or 2190 then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Leftwards Arrow
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+2190
- Windows
- Alt + 27
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 27 | 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+2190 | LEFTWARDS ARROW |
Symbols related to Left Arrow
These are filed under 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 Sm, a mathematical symbol. Software may lay it out with the spacing an operator expects.
What Left Arrow 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: $\leftarrow$ 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 left-pointing arrow. That word is what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Left Arrow is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches it as well as the Unicode name.
What Unicode says about Left Arrow
The code chart points from ← to combining leftwards arrow overlay (U+20EA). These are the characters the standard thinks you might have meant instead, which makes them the ones worth checking when Left Arrow looks nearly right but not quite.
How Left Arrow 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 Left Arrow
What is the left arrow keyboard symbol?
← is LEFTWARDS ARROW, encoded at U+2190. It is distinct from combining leftwards arrow overlay (U+20EA), which the chart lists beside it precisely because they are confused for one another.
How to type left arrow?
You can press Alt + 27 on Windows, with Num Lock on and the digits typed on the numeric keypad. That produces ←.
Every way to write Left Arrow
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+2190 |
| Decimal | 8592 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 86 90 |
| UTF-16 bytes | 21 90 |
| HTML entity | ← |
| HTML numeric | ← or ← |
| CSS | \2190 |
| JavaScript | \u2190 |
| Python | \u2190 |
| URL-encoded | %E2%86%90 |
| LaTeX, in maths mode | $\leftarrow$ |
| SVG | 2190.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ← arrives as â†�
One character has become three, which is what a three-byte UTF-8 sequence looks like when each byte is read separately: E2 86 90 read as Windows-1252 gives exactly �. The text is intact and the damage is in the reading, so setting the reader to UTF-8 restores it and retyping does not. A rectangle instead of the mojibake means the opposite: the encoding is right and the font has no glyph at U+2190, which for a character this far outside Latin-1 is common in older office fonts.