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Horizontal Line Symbol (─)

─ is the box-drawing horizontal line, the building block of text tables, dividers and ASCII diagrams: ───────.

─

Box Drawings Light Horizontal · U+2500 · Punctuation & Text Symbols

Click the symbol or the button to copy it, then paste it anywhere — documents, messages, bios and code.

Horizontal Line codes

Code	Value
Unicode code point	`U+2500`
Unicode name	`Box Drawings Light Horizontal`
HTML named entity	`&boxh;`
HTML decimal	`─`
HTML hex	`─`
CSS content code	`\2500`
JavaScript / JSON	`\u2500`
Windows Alt code	No standard Alt code — copy it from the card above

Horizontal Line variants (12)

12 related glyphs — click any tile to copy it. Tiles with a page open that symbol's own page.

━Box Drawings Heavy Horizontal│Box Drawings Light Vertical┃Box Drawings Heavy Vertical┐Box Drawings Light Down And Left┌Box Drawings Light Down And Right└Box Drawings Light Up And Right┘Box Drawings Light Up And Left┬Box Drawings Light Down And Horizontal┴Box Drawings Light Up And Horizontal┼Box Drawings Light Vertical And Horizontal═Box Drawings Double Horizontal║Box Drawings Double Vertical

Meaning & usage

─ is the box-drawing horizontal line, the building block of text tables, dividers and ASCII diagrams: ───────. Unlike a hyphen or dash it joins seamlessly with its neighbours and with the other box-drawing pieces (│ ┌ ┐ └ ┘) in the variants, so whole frames can be typed as text.

Examples in use

Copy ─ into a post, document or message

How to type the horizontal line

Windows

There is no Alt code or direct key for ─. In Microsoft Word, type 2500 and press Alt+X to convert it. Everywhere else, click the Copy button at the top of this page and paste it (Ctrl+V) — that always works.

Mac

There is no Option-key shortcut for ─ on a Mac. Open the Character Viewer with Control+Command+Space, search for "Horizontal Line", and double-click to insert — or copy it from this page.

iPhone & Android

Most phone keyboards have no built-in key for ─. Open this page on your phone, tap Copy, then paste it into your message or bio. (On Android, Gboard's emoji search finds some symbols by name.)

Linux

Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 2500 and press Enter (works in most GTK apps and terminals with IBus). Or copy it from this page.

Frequently asked questions

How do I copy the ─ symbol?

Click the big ─ in the card at the top of this page — it copies as a standard Unicode character (U+2500) and pastes anywhere.

How do I type ─ on a keyboard?

There is no standard keyboard shortcut or Alt code for ─. Copy it from this page, or in Microsoft Word type 2500 and press Alt+X.

Why does ─ sometimes show as a box or question mark?

The box (called tofu) means the device or font viewing it has no drawing for U+2500 (Box Drawings Light Horizontal). The character itself is fine — try a different font or a newer device, or use one of the variants on this page.

Is the Horizontal Line free to use?

Yes. ─ is a standard Unicode text character published in the Unicode Character Database. You may use it in personal and commercial documents, designs and products without permission or payment.

Related symbols

—Em Dash ‐Hyphen

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Data: Unicode Character Database · Page updated 2026-11-13