How to type Plus Sign
+ is Shift + =, in the same place on US and UK keyboards. Alt + 43 on the numeric keypad produces it on any Windows layout, which is the way in when the keyboard in front of you has no key for it, and + writes it in HTML. Its codepoint is U+002B.
Plus Sign
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+002B
- Windows
- Alt + 43
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 43 | Hold Alt and type the number on the numeric keypad. |
| HTML | + | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+002B | PLUS SIGN |
Other math symbols
+ lives in the Basic Latin block (U+0000-U+007F), the original ASCII set: the letters, digits and punctuation printed on a US keyboard. Within Unicode it is classified as Sm, a mathematical symbol. Software may lay it out with the spacing an operator expects. Its bidirectional class makes it a European number separator.
What Plus Sign is used for
In mathematical notation + is a binary operator: it takes one operand on each side, and TeX sets a medium space either side of it so that the three parts read as a single expression rather than as three symbols in a row. That is the classification unicode-math gives it, and it is what decides how the symbol is set: $\mathplus$ 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 add. That word is what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Plus Sign is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches it 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+16ED, Runic Cross Punctuation). 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 Plus Sign is not matching where you expect it to, one of these is the usual reason.
What Unicode says about Plus Sign
The code chart points from + to modifier letter plus sign (U+02D6), minus sign (U+2212), heavy plus sign (U+2795), hebrew letter alternative plus sign (U+FB29) and light greek cross (U+1F7A2). These are the characters the standard thinks you might have meant instead, which makes them the ones worth checking when Plus Sign looks nearly right but not quite.
How Plus Sign behaves in software
+ takes one column in a terminal.
What people ask about Plus Sign
When betting what does plus and minus mean?
+ is PLUS SIGN, encoded at U+002B. It is distinct from modifier letter plus sign (U+02D6) and minus sign (U+2212), which the chart lists beside it precisely because they are confused for one another.
Every way to write Plus Sign
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+002B |
| Decimal | 43 |
| UTF-8 bytes | 2B |
| UTF-16 bytes | 00 2B |
| HTML entity | + |
| HTML numeric | + or + |
| CSS | \002B |
| JavaScript | \u002B |
| Python | \u002B |
| URL-encoded | %2B |
| LaTeX, in maths mode | $\mathplus$ |
| SVG | 002B.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If + needs escaping
+ is one byte in ASCII, in UTF-8 and in every code page in common use, so it never arrives corrupted. Its problem is the opposite one: it means something to the software reading it. In HTML it can be written +, in a URL it is %2B, and inside a CSV field, a shell command or a regular expression it has to be quoted or escaped rather than typed plainly. That is also why + is the character people substitute when the one they wanted will not type.