U+2194 · Arrows

Left Right Arrow ↔

The left right arrow ↔ points in both horizontal directions. It commonly means “to and from,” “equivalent to,” or a two-way relationship. Travel writing uses it for round trips, chemistry uses it for resonance structures, and technical diagrams use it for bidirectional data flow or mutual connections.

WindowsAlt 29

UnicodeU+2194

HTML↔

↔︎U+2194

Character codes

Unicode code point	`U+2194`
Decimal	`8596`
HTML named entity	`↔`
HTML (hex)	`↔`
HTML (decimal)	`↔`
CSS	`\2194`
JavaScript	`\u2194`
Python	`\u2194`
UTF-8 bytes	`E2 86 94`
UTF-16	`2194`
URL-encoded	`%E2%86%94`

Character details

Official name	LEFT RIGHT ARROW
Unicode block	Arrows
General category	Math Symbol (Sm)
SymbolHero category	Arrows
Emoji	Yes – has an emoji presentation

How to type ↔

Windows

Hold Alt and type 29 on the numeric keypad (Num Lock on), then release Alt. Alt 29 uses the code page 437.
Press Win + . to open the emoji panel, then type “left right arrow”.
In Microsoft Word or Outlook: type 2194 then press Alt + X.
Open Character Map (search “Character Map” in Start), tick “Advanced view”, search for “left right arrow”, then Select and Copy.

Mac

Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search “left right arrow”, and double-click the result.
With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 2194.

iPhone & Android

Open the emoji keyboard on iPhone or Android and search “left right arrow”.
Tap Copy at the top of this page, then long-press where you want it and choose Paste.

Docs & web

Google Docs: Insert → Special characters, then search “left right arrow” or enter U+2194.
HTML: ↔ or ↔
Excel / Google Sheets: =UNICHAR(8596)

Examples

NYC ↔ Boston shuttle
Resonance: A ↔ B
Sync: Phone ↔ Laptop
Translate: English ↔ Spanish

Good to know

Don’t mix it up: It is often confused with the left right double arrow ⇔ (U+21D4), which means logical equivalence (if and only if).

Tip: For chemical equilibrium, use ⇌ (U+21CC) rather than ↔; the double-headed ↔ is reserved for resonance.

Display: the character itself is always the same code point, but its shape comes from the font on the device showing it. If you see an empty box, the font lacks this glyph—the text is still correct.