38 characters · free to copy
Arrow symbols in every weight
Unicode carries arrows in several weights across several blocks: light arrows at U+2190, double arrows at U+21D0, heavy black arrows scattered through the Dingbats and Miscellaneous Symbols ranges, and triangles that stand in for directional buttons. Copy any character below; each is listed with its Unicode name and code point, and the four that platforms tend to render as emoji are flagged.
Light arrows
The base set — all eight directions plus the two bidirectional arrows. Universally supported.
Double arrows
Two-stroke arrows. In mathematics these mean implication, not direction — worth knowing before you use one decoratively.
Heavy arrows
Solid arrows with real visual weight. All four have emoji presentations — add U+FE0E to keep them monochrome.
Triangle arrows
Directional triangles — what a D-pad, a media control or an on-screen arrow key is usually drawn with. No emoji presentation, so they always take your colour.
Return, refresh and swap
The arrows that mean an action rather than a direction: undo, reload, swap, branch.
Click any character to copy it. Nothing is downloaded — these are text characters, not images.
Unicode blocks
- U+2190–U+21FF Arrows
- U+25B2–U+25C0 Geometric Shapes
- U+27A1, U+2934, U+2B05 Supplemental Arrows-B / Dingbats / Misc. Symbols and Arrows
How to use Arrow Symbols
Pick the weight that matches your text
Light arrows ←↑→↓ sit correctly inside body copy. Heavy arrows and triangles are for buttons and controls where an arrow needs to read as a target rather than as punctuation.
Force text presentation on the heavy four
⬅ ⬆ ➡ ⬇ all have emoji forms and many platforms pick them by default, which overrides your colour. Append the variation selector U+FE0E to keep them monochrome — or use the triangles, which have no emoji form at all.
Label keyboard controls with them
A control table reads better as ← → ↑ ↓ than as the words. Give the element an aria-label naming the key, since a screen reader announces "leftwards arrow" rather than "left arrow key".
Do not use double arrows for direction in technical writing
In mathematics ⇒ means "implies" and ⇔ means "if and only if". Readers in technical contexts will read the logic meaning first, so use single arrows when you mean movement.
About Arrow Symbols
Arrows are spread across more Unicode blocks than almost any other category, which is why finding the right one is harder than it should be. The core Arrows block at U+2190 covers the eight compass directions in a light stroke plus a long tail of specialised mathematical and technical variants. The heavy black arrows most people actually want for buttons are not there at all — they live in Dingbats and Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows, at code points as scattered as U+27A1 and U+2B05.
That history creates a practical trap. The four heavy directional arrows were later given emoji presentations, so on many platforms ➡ arrives as a full-colour emoji that ignores your CSS colour and sits on the text baseline slightly wrong. Appending the text variation selector U+FE0E fixes it. The directional triangles ◀▲▶▼ from the Geometric Shapes block never had emoji forms, which makes them the more reliable choice for interface controls — and it is why this site draws its on-screen game controls with triangles.
The double arrows deserve a specific warning. In mathematical notation ⇒ is implication and ⇔ is equivalence, and these readings are strong enough that a technically literate reader will see logic before direction. If you mean "goes to" or "leads to", the single arrow → is both correct and unambiguous. Reserve the doubles for the meaning they carry.
For games, arrows carry an unusual amount of weight because they are how movement is explained. Every keyboard-controlled game on this site documents its controls with the light arrows and renders its touch controls as triangles, so the same directional vocabulary works whether you are reading the instructions or tapping the screen — and because both are text, both take the game accent colour automatically.
Games drawn with these characters
Every board on this site is built from Unicode, not sprites. These ones use the characters above.
Frequently asked questions
How do I copy an arrow symbol?
Click any arrow above to copy it to your clipboard. To type one instead: in HTML use → ← ↑ ↓, and in most editors the code point works directly — U+2192 for →.
Why did my arrow turn into a coloured emoji?
The heavy arrows ⬅ ⬆ ➡ ⬇ have both text and emoji presentations, and several platforms default to emoji. Append the text variation selector U+FE0E immediately after the character, or switch to the triangles ◀▲▶▼, which have no emoji form.
What is the difference between → and ⇒?
Visually one stroke versus two, but the meanings differ. In mathematics ⇒ means "implies" and ⇔ means "if and only if". For plain direction or movement, use the single arrow → — a technical reader will otherwise read logic where you meant motion.
Which arrows should I use for game or media controls?
The directional triangles ◀▲▶▼ from the Geometric Shapes block. They have no emoji presentation, so they always take your CSS colour, and they carry enough visual weight to read as buttons rather than punctuation.
Are arrow symbols accessible to screen readers?
They are announced by their Unicode name, so → reads as "rightwards arrow" — which is rarely what you mean. If an arrow labels a control, give the element an aria-label such as "Move left" and hide the character with aria-hidden so it is not read twice.
Support the arcade
Enjoying the games?
UnicodeGames is free, has no ads and never will. If it brightened a coffee break, you can return the favour.
Buy me a coffeeOne-off · No account needed · Handled by Buy Me a Coffee