Ever wonder how people type those little symbols in their Twitter posts? My pal Sherman Hu pointed me in the right direction. Thanks Sherm!

A special thanks to this website, where I was able to find what I needed: http://www.alt-codes.net/

I also posted more elusive alt-codes for some awesome symbols, however, many of them you’ll need to copy and paste into Twitter instead of trying the alt-code sequence. For some reason they aren’t working as expected in Twitter anymore.

As an extra bit of fun and coolness, I located a website that has something called “Twitter Art“. Pretty fun stuff.

Disclosure: I’ve only tested a handful of these myself, on a Windows XP PC. Also tested in Outlook 2007 emails. Apologies up front if they don’t work in the environment you are in.

How To Use Alt Code Characters

  1. Make sure that you switch on the Number Lock on your keyboard.
  2. Hold down the ALT key (left alt key).
  3. And type the number of which alt code you want to get.

Example 1

For example the decimal alt code of heart is 3
Press and hold the ALT key and type 3 then you will get ♥

Example 2

For example the decimal alt code of one half is 171
Press and hold the ALT key and type 171 then you will get ½

Symbol Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
§ 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
space 32
! 33
34
# 35
$ 36
% 37
& 38
39
( 40
) 41
* 42
+ 43
, 44
45
. 46
/ 47
0 48
1 49
2 50
3 51
4 52
5 53
6 54
7 55
: 56
; 57
: 58
; 59
< 60
= 61
> 62
? 63
@ 64
A 65
B 66
C 67
D 68
E 69
F 70
G 71
H 72
I 73
J 74
K 75
L 76
M 77
N 78
O 79
P 80
Q 81
R 82
S 83
T 84
U 85
Symbol Number
V 86
W 87
X 88
Y 89
Z 90
[ 91
\ 92
] 93
^ 94
_ 95
` 96
a 97
b 98
c 99
d 100
e 101
f 102
g 103
h 104
i 105
j 106
k 107
l 108
m 109
n 110
o 111
p 112
q 113
r 114
s 115
t 116
u 117
v 118
w 119
x 120
y 121
z 122
{ 123
| 124
} 125
~ 126
127
Ç 128
ü 129
é 130
â 131
ä 132
à 133
å 134
ç 135
ê 136
ë 137
è 138
ï 139
î 140
ì 141
Ä 142
Å 143
É 144
æ 145
Æ 146
ô 147
ö 148
ò 149
û 150
ù 151
ÿ 152
Ö 153
Ü 154
¢ 155
£ 156
¥ 157
158
ƒ 159
á 160
í 161
ó 162
ú 163
ñ 164
Ñ 165
ª 166
º 167
¿ 168
169
¬ 170
Symbol Number
½ 171
¼ 172
¡ 173
« 174
» 175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
α 224
ß 225
Γ 226
π 227
Σ 228
σ 229
µ 230
τ 231
Φ 232
Θ 233
Ω 234
δ 235
236
φ 237
ε 238
239
240
± 241
242
243
244
245
÷ 246
247
° 248
249
· 250
251
252
² 253
254
255

 

OK, in addition to the alt codes I listed in an earlier post, I finally found a website that listed some of the more elusive alt codes that can be used in your Twitter posts.

So far, I’m finding that many of them below are not showing up properly when typed directly into Twitter anymore. If that is the case for you, you can simply copy and paste them from below. ♥ Now, something I’ve just tried out is posting to Twitter using an email from Outlook to my ping.fm account (then ping sends to Twitter). The alt-codes below work this way, but ping.fm also sends an extra post to twitter saying “This is a multi-part message in MIME format.”. Stupid, I know. I had to go into Twitter and delete it. The way I entered them in the email is: (for the raining-snow symbol) hold down the Alt key, hit the 3 key along the top of the keyboard, hit the 9 7 3 0 keys on the number pad on the right of the keyboard, let go of the Alt key. It created extra copies of some of the words and symbols that I manually deleted before sending. Rather a funky and roundabout way of do this though, but thought I would share what I was playing around with.

I located a little toolbar tool called TwitterKeys that helps with the copy/paste process.

A special thanks to this site where I found them, http://www.mistywindow.com/reference/html-characters.htm

As an extra bit of fun and coolness, I located a website that has something called “Twitter Art“. Pretty fun stuff.

OK, I’m done wasting time on this now… back to work.

There was a # sign in front of all the numbers, but they all converted to the symbol once I saved the post. In order for you to see the number sequence, I removed it, so you’ll want to add the # in front of the number sequence again.

You can always check out the originating page from the link above, but if you follow my keystroke sequence it should all work for you.

To use these Alt Code Characters, here’s what you do. When you are in your Twitter window,

  1. Switch on the Number Lock on your keyboard.
  2. Press and hold the ALT key.
  3. Type the number of which alt code you want to get.

Disclosure: I’ve only tested a handful of these myself, on a Windows XP PC. Also tested in Outlook 2007 emails. Apologies up front if they don’t work in the environment you are in.

How to Do Alt Codes On a Laptop PC

  • Expanded Character Entity List: Miscellaneous Symbols

        • [ ℠ ] Service Mark [number: &8480]
        • [ ℃ ] Celsius [number: &8451;]
        • [ ℅ ] care of [number: &8453;]
        • [ ℉ ] Fahrenheit [number: &8457;]
        • [ № ] numero symbol – number sign [number: &8470;]
        • [ ℗ ] Sound Recording Copyright [number: &8471;]
        • [ ℞ ] Prescription Take pharmaceutical symbol [number: &8478;]
        • [ Ω ] Ohm [number: &8486;]
        • [ ℧ ] Inverted Ohm [number: &8487;]
        • [ ☀ ] sunshine – sun [ number: &9728;]
        • [ ☁ ] cloudy – cloud [ number: &9729;]
        • [ ☂ ] raining – rain [ number: &9730;]
        • [ ☃ ] snow – snowman [ number: &9731;]
        • [ ☄ ] comet [ number: &9732;]
        • [ ★ ] star solid [ number: &9733;]
        • [ ☆ ] star outline [ number: &9734;]
        • [ ☇ ] lightning [ number: &9735;]
        • [ ☈ ] thunderstorm [ number: &9736;]
        • [ ☉ ] sun [ number: &9737;]
        • [ ☊ ] ascending node [ number: &9738;]
        • [ ☋ ] descending node [ number: &9739;]
        • [ ☌ ] conjunction [ number: &9740;]
        • [ ☍ ] opposition [ number: &9741;]
        • [ ☎ ] phone number – phone service [ number: &9742;]
        • [ ☏ ] phone symbol outline [ number: &9743;]
        • [ ☐ ] check box – ballot box [ number: &9744;]
        • [ ☑ ] ballot box check mark [ number: &9745;]
        • [ ☒ ] ballot box with X [ number: &9746;]
        • [ ☓ ] Saltire – St. Andrew’s Cross [ number: &9747;]
        • [ ☚ ] left-pointing index finger [number: &9754;]
        • [ ☛ ] right-pointing index finger [number: &9755;]
        • [ ☜ ] left-pointing index finger [number: &9756;]
        • [ ☝ ] upwards pointing index finger [number: &9757;]
        • [ ☞ ] right pointing index finger [number: &9758;]
        • [ ☟ ] downwards pointing index finger [number: &9759;]
        • [ ☠ ] skull & crossbones [number: &9760;]
        • [ ☡ ] caution sign [ number: &9761;]
        • [ ☢ ] radioactive sign [number: &9762;]
        • [ ☣ ] biohazard sign [number: &9763;]
        • [ ☤ ] Caduceus or “Kerykeion” [number: &9764;]
        • [ ☥ ] Ankh [number: &9765;]
        • [ ☦ ] Eastern Christian Cross [number: &9766;]
        • [ ☧ ] Chi Rho Cross [number: &9767;]
        • [ ☨ ] Patriarchal Cross [number: &9768;]
        • [ ☩ ] Greek Cross [number: &9769;]
        • [ ☪ ] Crescent Moon & Star [ number: &9770;]
        • [ ☫ ] Farsi symbol [ number: &9771;]
        • [ ☬ ] Adi Shakti [ number: &9772;]
        • [ ☭ ] hammer & sickle [ number: &9773;]
        • [ ☮ ] peace sign [ number: &9774;]
        • [ ☯ ] yin & yang [ number: &9775;]
        • [ ☰ ] trigram Heaven [ number: &9776;]
        • [ ☱ ] trigram Lake [ number: &9777;]
        • [ ☲ ] trigram Fire [ number: &9778;]
        • [ ☳ ] trigram Thunder [ number: &9779;]
        • [ ☴ ] trigram Wind [ number: &9780;]
        • [ ☵ ] trigram Water [ number: &9781;]
        • [ ☶ ] trigram Mountain [ number: &9782;]
        • [ ☷ ] trigram Heaven [ number: &9783;]
        • [ ☸ ] Dharma Wheel [number: &9784;]
        • [ ☹ ] frowning face [number: &9785;]
        • [ ☺ ] smiley face [number: &9786;]
        • [ ☻ ] black smiley face [number: &9787;]
        • [ ☽ ] waxing crescent moon [number: &9789;]
        • [ ☾ ] waning crescent moon [number: &9790;]
        • [ ☿ ] Mercury [number: &9791;]
        • [ ♀ ] Venus – Female symbol [number: &9792;]
        • [ ♁ ] Earth symbol [number: &9793;]
        • [ ♂ ] Mars – Male symbol [number: &9794;]
        • [ ♃ ] Jupiter [number: &9795;]
        • [ ♄ ] Saturn [number: &9796;]
        • [ ♅ ] Uranus [number: &9797;]
        • [ ♆ ] Neptune [number: &9798;]
        • [ ♇ ] Pluto [number: &9799;]
        • [ ♈ ] Aries [number: &9800;]
        • [ ♉ ] Taurus [number: &9801;]
        • [ ♊ ] Gemini [number: &9802;]
        • [ ♋ ] Cancer [number: &9803;]
        • [ ♌ ] Leo [number: &9804;]
        • [ ♍ ] Virgo [number: &9805;]
        • [ ♎ ] Libra [number: &9806;]
        • [ ♏ ] Scorpio [number: &9807;]
        • [ ♐ ] Sagittarius [number: &9808;]
        • [ ♑ ] Capricorn [number: &9809;]
        • [ ♒ ] Aquarius [number: &9810;]
        • [ ♓ ] Pisces [number: &9811;]
        • [ ♔ ] White King [number: &9812;]
        • [ ♕ ] White Queen [number: &9813;]
        • [ ♖ ] White Rook [number: &9814;]
        • [ ♗ ] White Bishop [number: &9815;]
        • [ ♘ ] White Knight [number: &9816;]
        • [ ♙ ] White Pawn [number: &9817;]
        • [ ♚ ] Black King [number: &9818;]
        • [ ♛ ] Black Queen [number: &9819;]
        • [ ♜ ] Black Rook [number: &9820;]
        • [ ♝ ] Black Bishop [number: &9821;]
        • [ ♞ ] Black Knight [number: &9822;]
        • [ ♟ ] Black Pawn [number: &9823;]
        • [ ♠ ] black spade suit [name: ] [number: &9824;]
        • [ ♡ ] red heart suit [number: &9825;]
        • [ ♢ ] red diamond suit [number: &9826;]
        • [ ♣ ] black club suit = shamrock [name: ] [number: &9827;]
        • [ ♤ ] red spade suit [number: &9828;]
        • [ ♥ ] black heart suit = valentine [name: ] [number: &9829;]
        • [ ♦ ] black diamond suit [name: ] [number: &9830;]
        • [ ♧ ] red club suit [number: &9831;]
        • [ ♨ ] hot springs [number: &9832;]
        • [ ♩ ] musical quarter note [number: &9833;]
        • [ ♪ ] musical eighth note [number: &9834;]
        • [ ♫ ] musical single bar note [number: &9835;]
        • [ ♬ ] musical double bar note [number: &9836;]
        • [ ♭ ] flat note [number: &9837;]
        • [ ♮ ] natural note [number: &9838;]
        • [ ♯ ] sharp note [number: &9839;]
        • [ ✁ ] cut above [number: &9985;]
        • [ ✂ ] cut here [number: &9986;]
        • [ ✃ ] cut below [number: &9987;]
        • [ ✄ ] scissors [number: &9988;]
        • [ ✆ ] public pay phone [number: &9990;]
        • [ ✇ ] film reel – tape spool [number: &9991;]
        • [ ✈ ] airport jet airplane [number: &9992;]
        • [ ✉ ] envelope mail email [number: &9993;]
        • [ ✌ ] victory sign [number: &9996;]
        • [ ✍ ] signature – sign here [number: &9997;]
        • [ ✎ ] pencil diagonal down [number: &9998;]
        • [ ✏ ] pencil [number: &9999;]
        • [ ✐ ] pencil diagonal up [number: &1000;]
        • [ ✓ ] check mark [number: &10003;]
        • [ ✔ ] heavy check mark [number: &10004;]
        • [ ✕ ] multiplication sign X [number: &100005;]
        • [ ✖ ] heavy multiplication sign X [number: &10006;]
        • [ ✗ ] ballot X [number: &10007;]
        • [ ✘ ] heavy ballot X [number: &10008;]
        • [ ✝ ] Latin Roman Cross [number: &10013;]
        • [ ✞ ] Latin Cross 3D shadow [number: &10014;]
        • [ ✟ ] Latin Cross outline [number: &10015;]
        • [ ✠ ] Maltese Cross [number: &10016;]
        • [ ✡ ] Star of David [number: &10017;]
        • [ ❛ ] quotation mark single turned comma [number: &10075;]
        • [ ❜ ] quotation mark single comma [number: &10076;]
        • [ ❝ ] quotation mark double turned comma [number: &10077;]
        • [ ❞ ] quotation mark double comma [number: &10078;]
    • ~