Combining enclosing keycap Emoji

Symbols

A transparent modifier character that functions as a structural overlay, placing a square border around the preceding alphanumeric or symbol character. It transforms standard text characters into a button-like format.

Usage Context

This character is the mechanical backbone of the keycap series. It is used to generate specific icons like 1⃣ or #⃣ by combining the base character with this enclosing mark. Users rarely input this character alone, as it requires a companion character to create a visible, boxed-in output.

History

Included in Unicode 3.0 in 1999, this character was developed to ensure that legacy Japanese mobile handsets could render numeric buttons and command symbols correctly. By using a combining character, engineers avoided the need to create thousands of individual, hard-coded images for every possible button combination.

Details

Glyph
Unicode
U+20E3
Shortcode
:emoji_u20e3:
HTML Entity
⃣

Specifications

Vendor Microsoft
Category Symbols
Subcategory keycap
Unicode Version 6.0
Emoji Version 1.0
License MIT
Tags
keycapsquarebuttonsymbolcombiningenclosingoverlayformattingmodifierUI element

Microsoft Fluent License

Emoji graphics by Microsoft. © Microsoft Corporation. Licensed under MIT. Excludes assets such as Clippy, flags, and trademarks.

Microsoft Fluent Emoji assets are licensed under the MIT License. Certain assets—such as Clippy, country flags, and Microsoft product/brand trademarks—are excluded from this license and may not be used without separate permission.