How to type Libra
To type Libra (♎), press Alt + 9806 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+264E directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 264e on Linux, or 264e then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Libra
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+264E
- Windows
- Alt + 9806 needs regedit
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 9806 | 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+264E | LIBRA |
Symbols related to Libra
These are filed under horoscope in CLDR, the keyword list Unicode publishes alongside the names.
Other symbols
♎ lives in the Miscellaneous Symbols block (U+2600-U+26FF), weather, astrology, religion, games and a wide miscellany. Within Unicode it is classified as So, a symbol.
What Libra is used for
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 balance, horoscope, justice and scales. Those words are what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Libra is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches them as well as the Unicode name.
What ♎ gets confused with
Unicode's own confusables table, the one used to catch lookalike domain names, groups ♎ with ≏ (U+224F, Difference Between). They are separate characters that render close enough to be mistaken for one another, so a search or a string comparison will separate them where your eye will not. If Libra is not matching where you expect it to, one of these is the usual reason.
What Unicode says about Libra
The code chart points from ♎ to scales (U+2696) and alchemical symbol for sublimation (U+1F75E). These are the characters the standard thinks you might have meant instead, which makes them the ones worth checking when Libra looks nearly right but not quite.
How Libra behaves in software
♎ takes two columns in a terminal, the same as a CJK character, so a table padded with spaces to a fixed width will not line up unless whatever is drawing it counts display width rather than characters. 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 Libra
What is the sign for libra?
♎ is LIBRA, encoded at U+264E. It is distinct from scales (U+2696) and alchemical symbol for sublimation (U+1F75E), which the chart lists beside it precisely because they are confused for one another.
Every way to write Libra
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+264E |
| Decimal | 9806 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 99 8E |
| UTF-16 bytes | 26 4E |
| HTML entity | ♎ |
| HTML numeric | ♎ or ♎ |
| CSS | \264E |
| JavaScript | \u264E |
| Python | \u264E |
| URL-encoded | %E2%99%8E |
| SVG | 264E.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ♎ looks different on someone else's screen
♎ is drawn by the colour emoji font on the reader's own device and not by anything this site ships, so it is a different picture on Android, on Windows and on an iPhone, and a printed document usually renders it flat and black. Where you need the flat form deliberately, follow it with the variation selector U+FE0E; U+FE0F asks for the colour one. Neither selector changes what the text says, and both survive copy and paste.