U+FF5E · Math symbol
Fullwidth Tilde Symbol ～
～ is fullwidth tilde, U+FF5E. Unicode records it as a compatibility form of ~ (wide form). It was added in Unicode 1.1, and Unicode files it under Math symbol.
Also known as
Unicode 1.0 called this character fullwidth spacing tilde. 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+FF5E | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML hex | ～ | |
| HTML decimal | ～ | |
| CSS | \FF5E | |
| JavaScript | \u{FF5E} | |
| Python | \U0000FF5E | |
| Java / C# | \uFF5E | |
| Rust | \u{ff5e} | |
| Swift | \u{FF5E} | |
| PHP | \u{FF5E} | |
| URL encoded | %EF%BD%9E | |
| UTF-8 bytes | EF BD 9E | |
| UTF-16 bytes | FF5E | |
| Base64 | 772e | |
| Decimal | 65374 | |
| Decomposes to | ~ (wide form) | |
| Category | Math symbol (Sm) | |
| 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.
Unicode cross-references
The standard points readers of ～ at these characters — usually because they look alike, or because one is the correct choice where the other is often used by mistake.
Other tilde characters
Unicode names 8 characters ending in “tilde”. 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 FF5E then press Alt+X |
|---|---|
| macOS | Press Ctrl+Cmd+Space, then search for “fullwidth tilde” |
| Linux | Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type ff5e, press Enter |
| HTML | ～ |
About Unicode’s Math symbol category
Unicode classifies this as a mathematical symbol, which means software that lays out formulas treats it as an operator or relation and gives it spacing accordingly, rather than setting it tight against its neighbours like a letter.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I type the ～ fullwidth tilde symbol?
- On Windows, type FF5E and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then ff5e. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.
- What is the code for ～?
- Fullwidth Tilde is U+FF5E. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.
- Will ～ survive being pasted anywhere?
- Not always. Fullwidth Tilde 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.