U+FF3C · Other punctuation
Fullwidth Reverse Solidus Symbol ＼
＼ is fullwidth reverse solidus, U+FF3C. Unicode records it as a compatibility form of \ (wide form). It was added in Unicode 1.1, and Unicode files it under Other punctuation.
Also known as
Unicode 1.0 called this character fullwidth backslash. The standard renamed it later, but documents, fonts and font-editing tools from that era still use the old name.
Codes & technical data
| Unicode | U+FF3C | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML hex | ＼ | |
| HTML decimal | ＼ | |
| CSS | \FF3C | |
| JavaScript | \u{FF3C} | |
| Python | \U0000FF3C | |
| Java / C# | \uFF3C | |
| Rust | \u{ff3c} | |
| Swift | \u{FF3C} | |
| PHP | \u{FF3C} | |
| URL encoded | %EF%BC%BC | |
| UTF-8 bytes | EF BC BC | |
| UTF-16 bytes | FF3C | |
| Base64 | 77y8 | |
| Decimal | 65340 | |
| Decomposes to | \ (wide form) | |
| Category | Other punctuation (Po) | |
| Introduced | Unicode 1.1 | |
Will ＼ survive being pasted?
- Normalisation. No. Anything that applies NFKC — search indexes, usernames, domain names, programming identifiers — rewrites ＼ as
\. Safe for display, not for storage. - Legacy encodings. ＼ is Unicode-only — it has no Latin-1 equivalent, so a system stuck on an 8-bit encoding cannot represent it.
- Size. 3 bytes in UTF-8. Character-limited fields — SMS, bios, some form validators — usually count bytes, not characters.
Other solidus characters
Unicode names 5 characters ending in “solidus”. They differ by direction, weight or decoration rather than by meaning.
Nearby in Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms
Latin characters at the width of a CJK ideograph, and katakana at half width — a compatibility block for legacy East Asian encodings. Fullwidth text is often used online for a spaced-out aesthetic; it normalises straight back to ASCII.
How to type ＼
| Windows | Type FF3C then press Alt+X |
|---|---|
| macOS | Press Ctrl+Cmd+Space, then search for “fullwidth reverse solidus” |
| Linux | Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type ff3c, press Enter |
| HTML | ＼ |
About Unicode’s Other punctuation category
Unicode files this under "other punctuation", the category for marks that are not brackets, dashes or quotes.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I type the ＼ fullwidth reverse solidus symbol?
- On Windows, type FF3C and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then ff3c. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.
- What is the code for ＼?
- Fullwidth Reverse Solidus is U+FF3C. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.
- Will ＼ survive being pasted anywhere?
- Not always. Fullwidth Reverse Solidus is a compatibility character: any system that applies Unicode NFKC normalisation — search indexes, usernames, identifiers — replaces it with \. Use it for display, not where text is normalised.