How to type Two Fifths
To type Two Fifths (⅖), press Alt + 8534 on Windows, holding Alt while typing the digits on the numeric keypad, or write ⅖ in HTML. On any system you can copy it from this page, or enter its codepoint U+2156 directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 2156 on Linux, or 2156 then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Vulgar Fraction Two Fifths
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+2156
- Windows
- Alt + 8534 needs regedit
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 8534 | Above 255, so Windows will not accept it as typed. Copy the character instead. |
| Mac | N/A | Press the keys together. |
| HTML | ⅖ | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+2156 | VULGAR FRACTION TWO FIFTHS |
Other fractions symbols
⅖ lives in the Number Forms block (U+2150-U+218F), fractions and Roman numerals as single characters. Within Unicode it is classified as No, a number that is not a digit. Fractions and superscript digits sit here.
What happens to ⅖ in a search box
⅖ is a precomposed fraction: Unicode says it can be rewritten as 2⁄5, three separate characters. Anything that normalises text to NFKC before comparing it does exactly that, which is why ⅖ pasted into a search field, a URL slug or a username can come back as 2⁄5 and match text that never contained ⅖ at all. NFC, the form this site uses, leaves it alone. Unicode also records its numeric value as 0.4, so software that asks a character what number it is gets 0.4 rather than an error.
How Two Fifths behaves in software
⅖ takes one column in a terminal. 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 Two Fifths
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+2156 |
| Decimal | 8534 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 85 96 |
| UTF-16 bytes | 21 56 |
| HTML entity | ⅖ |
| HTML numeric | ⅖ or ⅖ |
| CSS | \2156 |
| JavaScript | \u2156 |
| Python | \u2156 |
| URL-encoded | %E2%85%96 |
| SVG | 2156.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ⅖ arrives as â…–
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 85 96 are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.