semiatic

Keyboard symbol · An arrow

⏎ Return key symbol

Our drawing, not Apple’s or Microsoft’s artwork.

⏎ is the symbol Apple’s shortcut list uses for Return: the key that starts a new line in text and chooses the selected item in a menu or dialog.

The symbol
⏎
Name on a Mac
Return
Name on a Windows PC
Microsoft’s lists name an Enter key; neither Apple nor Microsoft pairs the two in the pages we read
Unicode
U+23CE RETURN SYMBOL
In HTML
⏎
Where the key is
Right edge of the letter keys, at the end of the row with A, above the right Shift.

What Apple says

  • Return ⏎ Apple Support, Mac keyboard shortcuts, list of modifier-key symbols under Using keyboard shortcuts
  • Control-F2 or Fn-Control-F2 Move focus to the menu bar. You can then use the arrow keys to navigate the menu, press Return to open a selected menu or choose a selected menu item, or type the menu item's name to jump to that item in the selected menu. Apple Support, Mac keyboard shortcuts, Control-F2

On a Windows PC

  • Windows key+Shift+Enter If the active window is a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app, make it full screen. Microsoft Support, Keyboard shortcuts in Windows, Windows key keyboard shortcuts

Apple’s table of Windows keys on a Mac does not list Enter or Return, so we do not state an official pairing.

The character: U+23CE RETURN SYMBOL

To type or paste it anywhere, copy this: ⏎. It is U+23CE in Unicode, named RETURN SYMBOL, shown in the code chart Unicode Consortium, Code chart: Miscellaneous Technical, U+2300 to U+23FF, U+23CE

The names list notes on this character: may be shown with either hollow or filled glyph. Unicode Consortium, NamesList.txt, The Unicode Standard 18.0.0 (character names and annotations), U+23CE

Related characters:

  • ↵ U+21B5 DOWNWARDS ARROW WITH CORNER LEFTWARDS Unicode: “may indicate a carriage return or new line”; cross-referenced from ⏎
  • ⌤ U+2324 UP ARROWHEAD BETWEEN TWO HORIZONTAL BARS annotated “enter key”
  • ⎆ U+2386 ENTER SYMBOL in the block of keyboard symbols from ISO/IEC 9995-7

In the ISO keyboard standard

ISO/IEC 9995-7 has its own Enter symbol: the Unicode names list puts U+2386 ENTER SYMBOL (⎆) in its block of keyboard symbols from that standard. ⏎ is not in that block. Unicode Consortium, NamesList.txt, The Unicode Standard 18.0.0 (character names and annotations), block headers “Keyboard symbols from ISO/IEC 9995-7” and annotations

The standard itself: ISO/IEC (catalogue entry), ISO/IEC 9995-7:2009 Information technology — Keyboard layouts for text and office systems — Part 7: Symbols used to represent functions, catalogue entry

Other symbols of the same shape

⇧ ShiftU+21E7⇪ Caps LockU+21EA⇥ TabU+21E5⇞ Page UpU+21DE⇟ Page DownU+21DF⇱ HomeU+21F1⇲ EndU+21F2

More keyboard symbols

⌘ CommandU+2318⌥ OptionU+2325⌃ ControlU+2303⎋ EscapeU+238B⌫ Delete (Backspace)U+232B⌦ Forward DeleteU+2326⏏ EjectU+23CF🌐 Fn / GlobeU+1F310

Sources

Each line in quotation marks is copied from the page named, read on the date shown. Unicode names and code points are copied from the Unicode names list and code charts.