Square Symbols ■
Black, white and patterned squares, checkboxes and ².
Tip · press and hold to pick several at once
Square symbols 20
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Squares with a sign inside 23
Patterned and half squares 21
To-do checkboxes 3
Squared and cubed ² 11
Letters in squares 26
Letters in filled squares 26
Square emoji 21
Square combos 10
Squares around a name 6
Square dividers 6
How to type these symbols
| Symbol | Windows | Word | Mac | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ■︎ | — | 25A0 | — | ■ |
| □︎ | — | 25A1 | — | □ |
| ▢︎ | — | 25A2 | — | ▢ |
| ▣︎ | — | 25A3 | — | ▣ |
| ☐︎ | — | 2610 | — | ☐ |
| ☒︎ | — | 2612 | — | ☒ |
| ²︎ | Alt+0178 | 00B2 | — | ² |
| ³︎ | Alt+0179 | 00B3 | — | ³ |
Windows: hold Alt and type the number on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on; a dash means there is no Alt code that works the same on every Windows. Word for Windows: type the code, then press Alt+X. Mac, U.S. keyboard layout: ⌥ is Option and ⇧ is Shift; for the rest, Control+Command+Space opens the Character Viewer. HTML: paste the code into the page source.
How to use square symbols
Most square symbols come from one Unicode block, Geometric Shapes: the black square ■ and the white square □, the rounded ▢, the square in a square ▣, and three smaller sizes — medium ◼ ◻, small ▪ ▫ and tiny ⬝ ⬞. Patterned squares ▤ ▥ ▦ ▧ ▨ ▩ are filled with lines or a grid, and ◧ ◨ ◩ ◪ are half black, half white. Mathematics and the APL programming language add squares with a sign inside: ⊞ ⊟ ⊠ ⊡ for operators, ⍰ with a question mark, ⌧ with an X.
In bios and notes, squares are mostly about order. ☐ ☑︎ ☒ make a to-do list in apps that have no checkboxes of their own, ■ and ▪︎ work as bullets, and rows like ■□■□■□ divide a caption into parts. Letters in squares spell a word — 🄻🅄🄽🄰 in white squares, 🅻🆄🅽🅰 in black ones; the Square and Square Filled styles of the fancy text generator write a whole name that way in one go.
“Square symbol 2” usually means something else: the superscript two ² that marks a squared number, as in x² or m², and ³ for cubed. They are in the group “Squared and cubed ²”, with ready units like cm² and km². Several squares also have a colour twin: ■ is text and ⬛ the emoji; ◼︎ and ◼️ are one character with a different selector. Circles, triangles, diamonds and other shapes are on the shape symbols page.
Questions
How do I type the squared symbol ²?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0178 on the numeric keypad; in Word, type 00B2 and press Alt+X. On a Mac, open the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) and search for “superscript”. Or copy ² and units such as m² from the “Squared and cubed ²” group above.
How do I type a black square on the keyboard?
There is no key for one. In Word, type 25A0 and press Alt+X for ■, or 25A1 for □; on a Mac, the Character Viewer finds both if you search for “square”. On a phone, copy one from this page, or save it as a text replacement with a shortcut.
What is the difference between ■ and ⬛?
■ is a text symbol: it takes the colour and size of the text around it. ⬛ is an emoji and keeps its own look, a little larger. The small ▪ and the medium ◼ can be either — the versions in the first group carry the text selector U+FE0E, and the ones in “Square emoji” are the colour ones.
How do I make a checkbox in text?
Start each line with ☐ for a task to do and ☑︎ or ☒ for a done one: ☐ call mum, ☑︎ buy milk. They are ordinary characters, so the list survives copying into notes, chats and documents — but they do not tick when you tap them.