U+2325 · Miscellaneous Technical

Option Key Symbol ⌥

The Option key symbol, a line with a switch-like break, labels the Option (Alt) key on Mac keyboards and in Apple menus. It appears in shortcut notation throughout macOS documentation, tutorials and cheat sheets, as in ⌥⌘Esc for Force Quit. Unicode names it OPTION KEY, making it one of the few characters encoded for a specific key label.

UnicodeU+2325

HTML⌥

⌥U+2325

Character codes

Unicode code point	`U+2325`
Decimal	`8997`
HTML (hex)	`⌥`
HTML (decimal)	`⌥`
CSS	`\2325`
JavaScript	`\u2325`
Python	`\u2325`
UTF-8 bytes	`E2 8C A5`
UTF-16	`2325`
URL-encoded	`%E2%8C%A5`

Character details

Official name	OPTION KEY
Unicode block	Miscellaneous Technical
General category	Other Symbol (So)
SymbolHero category	Technical & Keyboard Symbols
Emoji	No

How to type ⌥

Windows

In Microsoft Word or Outlook: type 2325 then press Alt + X.
Open Character Map (search “Character Map” in Start), tick “Advanced view”, search for “option key”, then Select and Copy.

Mac

Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search “option key”, and double-click the result.
With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 2325.

iPhone & Android

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 “option key” or enter U+2325.
HTML: ⌥
Excel / Google Sheets: =UNICHAR(8997)

Examples

Force Quit: ⌥⌘Esc
⌥ + click the Wi-Fi icon for details
Hide others: ⌥⌘H

Good to know

Tip: When writing combined shortcuts, place ⌥ after ⌃ and before ⇧ and ⌘ to follow Apple's convention.

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.