What are the Keyboard Symbols Names?

A computer has more keyboard symbols than just letters and numbers. Sometimes you need to know a slash, backslash, backtick, tilde, or caret.

These keyboard symbols also include punctuation and other typographical marks. This guide shows the name of every computer keyboard symbol.

Contents

U.S. keyboard symbols

Here is the typical U.S. keyboard on a Windows computer. Windows adds a Windows Key (Win Key) and a Menu key on the bottom row.

A Mac keyboard adds a Command ⌘ key near the Control and Option keys on the bottom row.

Here is a list of all keyboard symbols and their names.

Keyboard Symbols	Name
`	grave, grave accent, backtick, back quote
~	tilde
!	exclamation, exclamation point, bang
@	at, at sign, at symbol
#	pound, pound sign, hash, hashtag, number sign, octothorpe
$	dollar sign, currency sign
%	percent, percent sign, parts per 100
^	carat, hat, circumflex, exponent
&	and, ampersand
*	asterisk
(	open bracket, open parenthesis, left parenthesis
)	close bracket, close parenthesis, right parenthesis
( )	parentheses, brackets, round brackets
–	hyphen, minus, minus sign, dash
_	underscore
=	equals, equal sign
+	addition, plus sign
[ ]	brackets, square brackets
[	open bracket
]	close bracket
{ }	braces, curly brackets
{	open brace
}	close brace
\	backslash, backward slash, reverse solidus
/	slash, forward slash, solidus
\|	vertical pipe, pipe
;	semicolon
:	colon
‘	apostrophe, prime, single quote
“	quotation mark, double quotes
,	comma
.	period, decimal, dot
<>	angle brackets
<	less than
>	greater than
?	question mark

Keyboard symbol names

There are several modifier keys for both Mac and Windows. These keys perform special functions such as copy, paste, save, and print.

The Windows key was introduced in 1994. It is also called the start key on Windows keyboards.

Symbols on a Windows Keyboard

The command key or ⌘ symbol on the Mac was first introduced in 1980. It allows many shortcuts on the Mac. The control key, or Ctrl, has a similar function in Windows.

Symbols on a Mac Keyboard

One popular use of the modifier keys is in Excel spreadsheets. See the Excel Shortcuts for Windows and Mac.

There are special symbols that use keyboard shortcuts. Some symbols are for currency, editing, math, or other functions.

This table shows the special symbol names and how to produce them with Windows shortcuts.

Symbols using Windows shortcuts

This table shows the special symbol names and how to produce them with Mac shortcuts.