How to type Parallel To
To type Parallel To (∥), press Alt + 8741 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+2225 directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 2225 on Linux, or 2225 then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Parallel To
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+2225
- Windows
- Alt + 8741 needs regedit
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 8741 | 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+2225 | PARALLEL 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 Parallel 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: $\parallel$ in LaTeX, in maths mode rather than in a sentence.
What Unicode says about Parallel To
The code chart points from ∥ to Double Vertical Line and latin letter lateral click (U+01C1). These are the characters the standard thinks you might have meant instead, which makes them the ones worth checking when Parallel To looks nearly right but not quite.
How Parallel 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.
Every way to write Parallel To
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+2225 |
| Decimal | 8741 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 88 A5 |
| UTF-16 bytes | 22 25 |
| HTML entity | ∥ |
| HTML numeric | ∥ or ∥ |
| CSS | \2225 |
| JavaScript | \u2225 |
| Python | \u2225 |
| URL-encoded | %E2%88%A5 |
| LaTeX, in maths mode | $\parallel$ |
| SVG | 2225.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ∥ arrives as ∥
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 88 A5 are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.