U+21CB · Other symbol
HTML entity
⇋
LaTeX
\leftrightharpoons
Leftwards Harpoon Over Rightwards Harpoon Symbol ⇋
⇋ is leftwards harpoon over rightwards harpoon. Write it in HTML as ⇋ or paste the character directly. It was added in Unicode 1.1, and Unicode files it under Other symbol.
Also known as
Unicode 1.0 called this character left harpoon over right harpoon. 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+21CB | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML hex | ⇋ | |
| HTML decimal | ⇋ | |
| CSS | \21CB | |
| JavaScript | \u{21CB} | |
| Python | \U000021CB | |
| Java / C# | \u21CB | |
| Rust | \u{21cb} | |
| Swift | \u{21CB} | |
| PHP | \u{21CB} | |
| URL encoded | %E2%87%8B | |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 87 8B | |
| UTF-16 bytes | 21CB | |
| Base64 | 4oeL | |
| Decimal | 8651 | |
| HTML entity | ⇋ | |
| LaTeX | \leftrightharpoons | |
| Category | Other symbol (So) | |
| Introduced | Unicode 1.1 | |
Will ⇋ survive being pasted?
- Normalisation. Yes. ⇋ is unchanged by NFKC, so it survives normalising systems intact.
- 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 harpoon characters
Unicode names 8 characters ending in “harpoon”. They differ by direction, weight or decoration rather than by meaning.
Nearby in Arrows
The core arrow set: every direction, plus doubled, dashed, hooked and looped variants. Anything not here is in one of the four supplemental arrow blocks, which exist because this one filled up.
How to type ⇋
| Windows | Type 21CB then press Alt+X |
|---|---|
| macOS | Press Ctrl+Cmd+Space, then search for “leftwards harpoon over rightwards harpoon” |
| Linux | Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 21cb, press Enter |
| HTML | ⇋ |
About Unicode’s Other symbol category
Unicode files this under "other symbol" — the catch-all for pictographs, signs and marks that are neither maths, currency, nor letter-like. It is the largest symbol category in the standard.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I type the ⇋ leftwards harpoon over rightwards harpoon symbol?
- On Windows, type 21CB and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then 21cb. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.
- What is the code for ⇋?
- Leftwards Harpoon Over Rightwards Harpoon is U+21CB, written in HTML as ⇋ and in LaTeX as \leftrightharpoons. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.
- What kind of character is ⇋?
- Leftwards Harpoon Over Rightwards Harpoon is filed under Other symbol in the Arrows block, and was introduced in Unicode 1.1. Unicode files this under "other symbol" — the catch-all for pictographs, signs and marks that are neither maths, currency, nor letter-like. It is the largest symbol category in the standard.