How to Use the SymbolFYI Symbol Search Tool

The Symbol Search tool at /tools/search/ is the fastest path from "I need a character" to having it in your clipboard. Instead of scrolling through tables or memorizing code points, you type what you're looking for — a description, a keyword, an HTML entity name, or the character itself — and the tool returns matching Unicode characters in real time, each ready to copy in whatever format your project needs.

How Symbol Search Works

Symbol Search queries against several dimensions of the Unicode Character Database simultaneously. When you type into the search field, the tool matches against:

Official Unicode character names — every character in the Unicode standard has a unique official name, written in all capitals. LATIN SMALL LETTER A, COPYRIGHT SIGN, BLACK RIGHT-POINTING TRIANGLE. Searching for any word in an official name finds characters whose names include that word.

Common keywords and descriptions — many characters are known by colloquial names that differ from their official Unicode designation. The official name is ASTERISK (U+002A), but searching "star" finds it alongside other star-like characters because "star" is a recognized alias. Similarly, "checkmark" finds CHECK MARK (U+2713) and its variants even though "checkmark" is not the official Unicode name.

HTML entity names — characters with named HTML entities are indexed by their entity name. Searching copy or copyright finds © via its entity ©; searching rarr finds → via →. This makes the Symbol Search useful as a lightweight HTML entity finder without switching tools.

Alias matching — Unicode maintains a set of formal aliases for characters that have common alternative names, corrected names, or figural names. These aliases are part of the search index. A character may have two or three aliases, all searchable.

Results appear as a scrollable grid of character cards. Each card shows the rendered glyph, the Unicode code point, and the character's name. Cards update in real time as you type — no submit button, no page reload.

Searching by Description

The most natural way to use the tool is to type a description of the character you need. A few principles that improve results:

Use the noun, not a sentence. "Arrow pointing right" works, but "right arrow" works better and faster.

Try multiple keywords. If "checkmark" returns too many results, "checkmark box" narrows to check marks inside boxes. If "star" returns too many, "star outline" narrows to hollow star shapes.

Search by shape when you know it. Searching "heart" finds ♥ ♡ ❤ 💙 and many others. Searching "heart outline" or "heart suit" narrows the field.

Some useful search patterns for common characters:

Searching by HTML Entity Name

If you already know the HTML entity name for a character but want to copy it in a different format — or confirm the exact character it refers to — search directly for the entity name.

Entity names work with or without the ampersand and semicolon:

• Searching copy or © → finds © (COPYRIGHT SIGN)
• Searching rarr or → → finds → (RIGHTWARDS ARROW)
• Searching mdash or — → finds — (EM DASH)
• Searching trade or ™ → finds ™ (TRADE MARK SIGN)
• Searching hellip or … → finds … (HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS)
• Searching nbsp → finds the non-breaking space (U+00A0)

This is particularly useful when you have the HTML entity memorized but need the raw Unicode character, or when you want to switch from a named entity to a hex numeric reference for a CSS or JavaScript context.

Searching by Pasted Character

If you have the character but need its details — code point, HTML entity, CSS escape, or encoding formats — paste it directly into the search field. The tool performs an exact character lookup and returns a single result with the full detail card.

This works for any Unicode character your system can copy to clipboard:

• Paste → → finds RIGHTWARDS ARROW, U+2192
• Paste © → finds COPYRIGHT SIGN, U+00A9
• Paste ✓ → finds CHECK MARK, U+2713
• Paste 漢 → finds CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6F22, U+6F22

Single-character paste lookup is effectively an instant "who is this character?" query. It is also the correct approach when you've received text containing an unfamiliar character and want to identify it. Copy the character, paste it into Symbol Search, and the result tells you exactly what it is.

The Copy Workflow

Every result card provides immediate copy access to the formats most commonly needed. Hovering a card reveals a copy button that copies the raw Unicode character to clipboard — one click, done.

For more formats, clicking a result card expands it to show the full encoding panel:

Each row in the encoding panel has its own copy button. This means you can find a character once and immediately copy it in whichever format your current context requires — HTML template, CSS content property, JavaScript string, or plain text.

After copying, a brief "Copied!" confirmation appears and disappears automatically.

Pro Tips

Searching by Code Point

If you know a character's hexadecimal code point, prefix it with U+ and search for it directly:

• U+2764 → finds ❤ (HEAVY BLACK HEART)
• U+00B0 → finds ° (DEGREE SIGN)
• U+2026 → finds … (HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS)
• U+1F600 → finds 😀 (GRINNING FACE)

You can also enter just the hex digits without the U+ prefix and the tool will recognize it as a code point when the input is a valid hexadecimal value.

Code point search is the fastest path when you're working from Unicode documentation, a character reference chart, or a codepoint mentioned in a bug report or API response. It eliminates any ambiguity about which specific character you mean.

Finding Confusable Characters

Many Unicode characters look visually similar but are technically distinct. A lowercase l (el) looks like a numeral 1 in some fonts; the Greek mu (μ) looks like the micro sign (µ); a Cyrillic а looks like a Latin a. These lookalike pairs are called confusables.

To find confusables in Symbol Search, search for the character description and compare the results. Searching "dash" returns the hyphen-minus (U+002D), hyphen (U+2010), non-breaking hyphen (U+2011), figure dash (U+2012), en dash (U+2013), em dash (U+2014), minus sign (U+2212), and several others. Each has a distinct code point, distinct Unicode properties, and subtly different visual appearance — the expanded detail card for each one makes the distinctions clear.

For text security work — checking whether a domain name or username contains characters from unexpected scripts — the Character Analyzer tool at /tools/character-counter/ provides deeper analysis by breaking text character by character and showing the script property for each one.

Using Search for Discovery

Symbol Search isn't only for finding a character you already have a mental image of. Exploratory queries like "fish", "flower", "hand", or "musical" return a range of characters you may not have known existed. Unicode contains an enormous variety of symbolic content across Miscellaneous Symbols, Dingbats, Emoticons, and Supplemental Symbols blocks. A keyword search is often a faster way to discover relevant characters than navigating the Symbol Table block by block.

Keyboard-Driven Workflow

The search field is always focused when the tool loads, so you can start typing immediately. Arrow keys navigate between results, Enter opens the detail panel for the selected card, and Escape closes it. Tab moves through the copy buttons within an expanded card. The entire workflow from search to copied character is achievable without touching the mouse.

Connecting to Other Tools

Symbol Search is the quickest path to a character, but other SymbolFYI tools extend what you can do once you've found it:

For full encoding details: Click any result card to see the encoding panel inline, or follow the link to the character's dedicated symbol page for a complete encoding breakdown including UTF-8 byte sequences.

For browsing by category: If your search returns many similar characters and you want to see the full context — all the arrows in the Arrows block, all the mathematical symbols in a particular range — the Symbol Table at /tools/symbol-table/ lets you navigate by Unicode block with full grid browsing.

For identifying characters in existing text: The Character Analyzer at /tools/character-counter/ breaks a pasted string into individual code points, showing the Unicode name and category for each character. Useful when pasted content behaves unexpectedly and you need to know exactly what's in the string.

For HTML entities specifically: The HTML Entity Finder at /tools/html-entity-search/ covers the full HTML5 named entity list with category browsing and consistent named/decimal/hex output. Use it when entity lookup is your primary workflow rather than general character search.

Symbol Search is designed to be the starting point for most character discovery tasks. Whether you know the name, the appearance, the entity code, or just have the character in your clipboard, the search field accepts all of them and gets you to a copyable result in seconds.