Dingbats and signs · U+2605

Star symbol

A solid star. The outline version ☆ is a separate character.

Looking for the colour emoji instead? ⭐ Star — same idea, drawn as a picture by each platform.

How to type it
Unicode
U+2605
Alt code
Alt+9733
HTML
★
Unicode name
Black Star
Your font
01 — Origin

Where the Star symbol comes from

The filled five-pointed star arrived in Unicode through the same route as the check mark — the Dingbats block, drawn from printers’ ornaments. It is a typographic mark, which is why it has a hollow twin ☆ and no colour of its own.

Ratings, favourites and bios. In a rating row the pair ★★★☆☆ does the job in five characters and survives being copied into a review, a spreadsheet or a plain-text email — the ⭐ emoji does not always.

Worth knowing
The emoji ⭐ and the symbol ★ are different characters. If a form rejects your star, you almost certainly used the emoji.
02 — Codes

Star symbol codes

Four notations, one result: whatever you copy here comes out as U+2605.

03 — How to type

How to type ★ on any keyboard

Keyboard, code, markup or document — the route to U+2605 differs by tool.

Windows
Hold Alt and type 9733 on the numeric keypad, then release. Without a keypad, use the Character Map app (search “charmap”).
Mac
Press Control + Command + Space to open the character viewer, then search “star”. Double-click to insert.
Phone
There is no shortcut on a phone keyboard. Tap the symbol at the top of this page, then long-press in any text field and choose Paste.
Web and code
In HTML write ★ or ★. In CSS content: "\2605". Make sure the page is served as UTF-8 and the raw character works too.
04 — Font support

Will ★ actually show up?

We checked 147 fonts installed on a normal machine and counted how many of them contain this character. A symbol missing from a font is drawn as an empty box — the text is still correct, it just cannot be drawn.

34% 50 of 147 fonts

Check before you rely on it. Plenty of fonts skip this character. It works in system UI and common documents, but a designed font may not carry it.

05 — Similar

Symbols people confuse with ★

Close enough to be mistaken for it, and still a different code point every time.

07 — Same block

Dingbats and signs

Stars, snowflakes, scissors, checkmarks — the printer’s ornament set.

All dingbats and signs →
08 — FAQ

Star symbol — questions

How do I type the Star symbol?
On Windows hold Alt and type 9733 on the numeric keypad. On Mac open the character viewer with Control + Command + Space and search “Star”. Or just tap the symbol on this page — it goes straight to your clipboard.
What is the HTML code for ★?
Write it as ★ or ★ in HTML, \2605 in CSS content, and \u2605 in JavaScript. All four produce the same character.
Is ★ an emoji?
No. ★ is a text character — it takes the colour of the text around it and works in usernames, filenames and documents. An emoji is replaced by a colour picture and is sometimes stripped by forms and systems.
Why does ★ show as a box on some devices?
Because that font has no drawing for this character. We checked 147 fonts on a normal machine and 50 of them include it — which is why boxes are common with this one. The character itself is always correct; only the drawing is missing.