U+00B2 · Latin-1 Supplement

Superscript Two (Squared) ²

Superscript two is the raised small 2 used for 'squared', as in square meters or x squared. Unlike formatting a normal 2 as superscript, it is a separate character, so it keeps its raised position in plain text, filenames, social posts, and spreadsheet cells. Real estate listings and product specs use it constantly.

WindowsAlt 253 / 0178

UnicodeU+00B2

HTML²

²U+00B2

Character codes

Unicode code point	`U+00B2`
Decimal	`178`
HTML named entity	`²`
HTML (hex)	`²`
HTML (decimal)	`²`
CSS	`\00B2`
JavaScript	`\u00B2`
Python	`\u00B2`
UTF-8 bytes	`C2 B2`
UTF-16	`00B2`
URL-encoded	`%C2%B2`

Character details

Official name	SUPERSCRIPT TWO
Unicode block	Latin-1 Supplement
General category	Other Number (No)
SymbolHero category	Superscripts & Subscripts
Decomposition	`<super> U+0032`
Emoji	No

How to type ²

Windows

Hold Alt and type 253 on the numeric keypad (Num Lock on), then release Alt. Alt 253 uses the code page 437.
Hold Alt and type 0178 on the numeric keypad (Num Lock on), then release Alt. Alt 0178 uses the Windows-1252 code page.
In Microsoft Word or Outlook: type 00B2 then press Alt + X.
Open Character Map (search “Character Map” in Start), tick “Advanced view”, search for “superscript two”, then Select and Copy.

Mac

Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search “superscript two”, and double-click the result.
With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 00B2.

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 “superscript two” or enter U+00B2.
HTML: ² or ²
Excel / Google Sheets: =UNICHAR(178)

Examples

Apartment size: 85 m²
E = mc²
Area = πr²
x² + y² = 25

Good to know

Don’t mix it up: Often confused with a normal digit 2 (U+0032) formatted as superscript in a word processor, which loses its raised position when pasted as plain text.

Tip: Unicode's superscript digits ¹ ² ³ come from Latin-1, while ⁰ and ⁴–⁹ live in a different block, so they may look slightly mismatched in some fonts.

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.