How do I type the ⟨ mathematical left angle bracket symbol?

On Windows, type 27E8 and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then 27e8. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.

What is the code for ⟨?

Mathematical Left Angle Bracket is U+27E8, written in HTML as &lang; and in LaTeX as \langle. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.

What kind of character is ⟨?

Mathematical Left Angle Bracket is filed under Opening punctuation in the Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-A block, and was introduced in Unicode 3.2. This is an opening bracket. Editors that highlight matching pairs, and bidirectional text algorithms, both key off this category rather than off the glyph.

U+27E8 · Opening punctuation

HTML entity

&lang;

LaTeX

\langle

Mathematical Left Angle Bracket Symbol ⟨

⟨ is mathematical left angle bracket. Write it in HTML as &lang; or paste the character directly. It was added in Unicode 3.2, and Unicode files it under Opening punctuation.

Also known as

bra
z notation left sequence bracket

Codes & technical data

Unicode	`U+27E8`
HTML hex	`⟨`
HTML decimal	`⟨`
CSS	`\27E8`
JavaScript	`\u{27E8}`
Python	`\U000027E8`
Java / C#	`\u27E8`
Rust	`\u{27e8}`
Swift	`\u{27E8}`
PHP	`\u{27E8}`
URL encoded	`%E2%9F%A8`
UTF-8 bytes	`E2 9F A8`
UTF-16 bytes	`27E8`
Base64	`4p+o`
Decimal	`10216`
HTML entity	`&lang;`
LaTeX	`\langle`
Category	Opening punctuation (Ps)
Introduced	Unicode 3.2

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.

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 bracket characters

Unicode names 24 characters ending in “bracket”. They differ by direction, weight or decoration rather than by meaning.

Nearby in Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-A

Overflow from the main operator block — extra brackets, angle marks and logic symbols that arrived after Mathematical Operators was closed.

All 48 characters in Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-A →

How to type ⟨

Windows	Type `27E8` then press `Alt`+`X`
macOS	Press `Ctrl`+`Cmd`+`Space`, then search for “mathematical left angle bracket”
Linux	Press `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`U`, type `27e8`, press `Enter`
HTML	`&lang;`

About Unicode’s Opening punctuation category

This is an opening bracket. Editors that highlight matching pairs, and bidirectional text algorithms, both key off this category rather than off the glyph.

Frequently asked questions

How do I type the ⟨ mathematical left angle bracket symbol?: On Windows, type 27E8 and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then 27e8. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.
What is the code for ⟨?: Mathematical Left Angle Bracket is U+27E8, written in HTML as &lang; and in LaTeX as \langle. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.
What kind of character is ⟨?: Mathematical Left Angle Bracket is filed under Opening punctuation in the Miscellaneous Mathematical Symbols-A block, and was introduced in Unicode 3.2. This is an opening bracket. Editors that highlight matching pairs, and bidirectional text algorithms, both key off this category rather than off the glyph.