How to Type the Pound Sign (£) on a US or UK Keyboard

On a UK keyboard, the pound sign (£) is Shift + 3. On a US Windows keyboard, hold Alt and type 0163 on the numeric keypad; on a US Mac, press Option + 3. Or copy it here:

This guide is about the British currency sign £, Unicode U+00A3 POUND SIGN. If you are looking for the # key that Americans often call the “pound sign” on phones, skip to the section on £ vs. # below.

Pound sign shortcuts by keyboard

How to type £ on a UK keyboard

UK keyboards print £ on the 3 key, so press Shift + 3. This is true for UK PC keyboards and for Macs using the British layout. What matters is the layout selected in the operating system, not the keycaps: a UK keyboard set to the US layout in Windows types # instead, and a US keyboard set to the UK layout types £.

The UK layout moves a few other characters too. The # sign has its own key next to Enter on UK PC keyboards, the @ and ” signs swap places (Shift + ' gives @ and Shift + 2 gives “), and the euro is AltGr + 4. On a British Mac layout, # moves to Option + 3 and € is Option + 2.

How to type £ on a US keyboard in Windows

Alt code

1. Turn on Num Lock.
2. Hold Alt.
3. Type 0163 on the numeric keypad.
4. Release Alt.

Alt + 156 works too. Codes with a leading zero use the Windows-1252 table (where £ is 163, matching its Unicode value), while codes without the zero use the legacy DOS code page 437 (where £ is 156). The number row above the letters will not work for either; you need a numeric keypad. Look up any other character’s codes in the Alt code finder.

No numeric keypad

Press Windows + . (or Windows + ;) to open the emoji and symbol panel, select the Symbols tab (Ω), and choose £ from the Currency symbols group. Character Map (search “Character Map” in Start, tick Advanced view, search “pound”) is another option.

Add the UK layout

If you write in pounds every day, add English (United Kingdom) as a keyboard layout in Windows language settings. You can then switch layouts with Windows + Space and use Shift + 3. Remember that the other UK key differences (such as @ and “) come with it.

How to type £ on a Mac

• US layout: Option + 3.
• British layout: Shift + 3.
• Any layout: open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space, search “pound”, and double-click £.

If Option + 3 gives # instead of £, your Mac is set to the British layout, where the two are swapped. Check the input menu in the menu bar.

Word, Excel and Google Docs

• Word: type 00A3 and press Alt + X, or use Insert > Symbol > More Symbols. If the code directly follows a number, select only 00A3 before pressing Alt + X.
• Excel: for amounts, apply a pound currency format (Format Cells > Number > Currency, then choose £) so the cells stay numeric. For text, =UNICHAR(163) returns £.
• Google Docs: Insert > Special characters, then search “pound”.
• Google Sheets: Format > Number > Custom currency, or =UNICHAR(163).

iPhone and Android

On iPhone and iPad, tap 123, then press and hold $ and slide to £. With a UK region setting, £ is usually shown directly on the number keyboard. On Android keyboards such as Gboard, open the symbols keyboard and press and hold the currency key, or look on the second symbols page.

Pound sign in HTML and code

Use the named entity £, or the numeric references £ and £. In CSS, write "0A3"; in JavaScript, "u00A3". In UTF-8, £ is two bytes, C2 A3. If you see £ on a web page, UTF-8 text is being read as Windows-1252 or Latin-1: the C2 byte is displayed as Â. Fix the page or database encoding rather than editing the text. The Unicode converter shows every encoding of a character.

£ vs. #: which “pound sign” do you need?

“Pound sign” means two different things depending on where you are:

• In the UK and most of the English-speaking world, the pound sign is £, the symbol for pound sterling.
• In the US and Canada, “pound sign” or “pound key” often means # (Unicode NUMBER SIGN, U+0023), especially on telephone keypads. The name comes from its use as an abbreviation for pounds of weight, as in 5# for five pounds. In the UK the same character is called the hash.

If an automated phone system asks you to “press pound”, it wants #. On a standard US keyboard, # is Shift + 3. For more characters in this family, see the punctuation symbols category.

Two other characters are sometimes confused with £. The lira sign ₤ (U+20A4) has two bars and was used for the Italian lira. The ℔ symbol (U+2114, L B BAR SYMBOL) is an abbreviation for pounds of weight, not currency. For money, use £ (U+00A3).

Writing amounts with £

In British English the sign goes before the amount with no space: £25, £4.99, £1.2m. Pence are written with a lowercase p after the number (75p), not as £0.75p. In formal financial documents, the ISO code GBP (GBP 25.00) removes any ambiguity with other currencies called pounds, such as the Egyptian pound.

Why the pound shortcut is not working

• Shift + 3 gives #. Your system is set to the US layout. Switch to English (United Kingdom), or use the Alt code.
• Shift + 2 gives ” instead of @. The opposite problem: your system is set to the UK layout while your keyboard is a US one.
• The Alt code does nothing. Use the numeric keypad with Num Lock on, not the number row.
• You see £. This is an encoding problem, not a typing problem. Save or serve the file as UTF-8.
• Option + 3 gives # on a Mac. You are using the British layout; press Shift + 3 instead.

Related symbols

• € Euro sign
• $ Dollar sign
• ¢ Cent sign
• ¥ Yen sign

Browse all currency symbols or search any character in the symbol finder.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Alt code for the pound sign?

Alt + 0163 or Alt + 156, typed on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on.

Why does Shift + 3 not give me £?

Your computer is using the US keyboard layout, where Shift + 3 is #. Switch the input layout to English (United Kingdom).

How do I type £ on a US Mac?

Press Option + 3.

Is # a pound sign?

In American usage, # is often called the pound sign, but its Unicode name is NUMBER SIGN. The currency symbol £ is U+00A3 POUND SIGN.