Degree Sign
The degree sign is °, Unicode code point U+00B0, and you can copy it from the button below. Type it with Alt+0176 on Windows, Option+Shift+8 on a Mac, a long press on the 0 key on a phone, or ° in HTML. It marks temperature (20 °C), plane angle (a 90° turn), and latitude and longitude (52° 22' N), and it is a different character from the masculine ordinal º and the ring above ˚.
| Symbol | ° | |
|---|---|---|
| Unicode | U+00B0 | |
| Name | Degree Sign | |
| HTML (named) | ° | |
| HTML (decimal) | ° | |
| HTML (hex) | ° | |
| CSS content | \00B0 | |
| JavaScript / JSON | \u00B0 | |
| UTF-8 bytes | 0xC2 0xB0 | |
| UTF-16 units | 0x00B0 | |
| Windows alt code | Alt 0176 or Alt 248 |
How do you type the degree sign on each platform?
| Where | How to type it |
|---|---|
| Windows | Hold Alt and type 0176 on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on, then release Alt. Alt+248 also produces ° in apps that still use the OEM code page. |
| macOS | Press Option+Shift+8. This is the true degree sign on every Mac layout. Option+K gives ˚ (ring above) and Option+0 gives º (masculine ordinal), which look similar but are different characters. |
| iPhone and iPad | Tap the 123 key, then press and hold the 0 key and slide onto the ° that pops up above it. |
| Android (Gboard) | Tap ?123, then press and hold the 0 key and choose ° from the popup. It also sits in the =\< symbol panel. |
| Chromebook (ChromeOS) | Press Ctrl+Shift+U, release, type 00b0, then press Enter or the space bar. |
| Linux | Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 00b0 and press Enter or space in GTK and IBus apps, or use the Compose key followed by o and o. |
| Microsoft Word | Type 00B0 and press Alt+X to convert the code into the character in place. Insert, Symbol has it too, listed as Degree Sign. |
| HTML | Write ° , or the numeric references ° and ° . All three render the same character. |
| CSS | Use content: "\00B0" inside a ::before or ::after rule, and remember to keep the file UTF-8. |
| LaTeX | In maths mode $90^{\circ}$ is the standard form. The gensymb package adds \degree, and siunitx provides \ang{90} for angles and \degreeCelsius for temperature. |
| Excel and Google Sheets | =UNICHAR(176) returns the degree sign, which is handy for building temperature labels in a formula. |
Which characters look like the degree sign?
Several characters render as a small raised circle, and picking the wrong one breaks search, sorting and screen readers even when it looks right on screen. The degree sign ° is U+00B0. These are the ones it is confused with.
| Character | Code point | Name | What it is really for |
|---|---|---|---|
| º | U+00BA | Masculine Ordinal Indicator | A superscript letter o used in Spanish and Portuguese ordinals such as 1º and in Nº. It is a letter, not a sign, so spell checkers and sorting treat it differently. On a Mac it is Option+0, which is why it often ends up in text by accident. |
| ˚ | U+02DA | Ring Above | A spacing diacritic: the standalone form of the ring that appears over the A in Å. It renders smaller and higher than the degree sign. On a US Mac layout Option+K produces it, which is the other common mix-up. |
| ⁰ | U+2070 | Superscript Zero | A raised digit zero, meant for exponents and footnote markers. It is taller and more oval than the degree sign and should not stand in for it. |
| ℃ | U+2103 | Degree Celsius | A single character containing both the degree sign and the C. Unicode includes it for compatibility with older East Asian character sets and recommends writing ° followed by C instead. |
| ℉ | U+2109 | Degree Fahrenheit | The Fahrenheit equivalent, also a compatibility character. Write ° followed by F for new text. |
| ∘ | U+2218 | Ring Operator | A maths operator for function composition, as in f ∘ g. It sits on the maths baseline rather than raised, so it is wrong for degrees even though LaTeX builds the degree sign from \circ. |
Is there a space before the degree sign?
It depends on what you are measuring. For temperature the degree sign belongs to the unit, so the SI convention is a space between the number and the unit: 20 °C, 98.6 °F. For plane angles there is no space: 90°, 23.5°, and the same applies to the minute and second marks in coordinates.
That rule comes from the SI brochure, which requires a space between a numerical value and its unit symbol but makes an explicit exception for the degree, minute and second of plane angle. Many newspapers and style guides close the temperature space anyway and write 20°C, so match the house style you are writing for and be consistent within a document.
One more detail worth knowing: the space in 20 °C should ideally be a non-breaking space, so the number and the unit never split across a line break.
Temperature or angle: is it the same degree sign?
Yes. One character, U+00B0, covers both. In 20 °C the degree sign combines with C to name the unit degree Celsius. In a 90° turn it stands on its own as the unit of plane angle, where 360° is a full circle. Latitude and longitude use the same sign with the prime and double prime for minutes and seconds, as in 51° 30' 26" N.
The one place it is not used is the kelvin. Kelvin is written without a degree sign: 293 K, not 293 °K. That changed in 1967 and is the mistake most often seen in technical writing.
Why does the degree sign sometimes show as a box or the wrong shape?
A box or question mark means the font you are viewing lacks the glyph, or that the text was decoded with the wrong character set. U+00B0 is part of Latin-1 and sits in every mainstream font, so in practice the cause is almost always an encoding mismatch: UTF-8 bytes read as Latin-1 turn ° into °. Serving pages as UTF-8 and saving files as UTF-8 fixes it.
If the mark looks too small or too high, you are probably looking at the ring above ˚ rather than the degree sign, which happens a lot on Macs because Option+K is next to the shortcut people mean to use. Copying from this page always gives you the correct U+00B0.
Frequently asked questions
What is the keyboard shortcut for the degree symbol?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0176 on the numeric keypad. On a Mac, press Option+Shift+8. On a phone, press and hold the 0 key on the number keyboard. On a Chromebook, press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 00b0 and press Enter.
How do I type the degree symbol on a Chromebook?
Use the ChromeOS Unicode input: press Ctrl+Shift+U, let go of all three keys, type 00b0, then press Enter or the space bar. It works in the browser, Google Docs and Gmail. Copying the ° from this page works everywhere else.
What is the difference between ° and º?
° (U+00B0) is the degree sign, used for temperature, angles and coordinates. º (U+00BA) is the masculine ordinal indicator, a superscript letter o used in Spanish and Portuguese words such as 1º and Nº. They look similar in many fonts but are different characters, and using the ordinal for degrees will trip up screen readers and search.
How do I write degrees Celsius?
Write the number, a space, then the degree sign and a capital C: 20 °C. Unicode also has a single ℃ character (U+2103), but it exists only for compatibility with older character sets and the Unicode standard recommends the two-character form instead.
Is the degree symbol the same in HTML and CSS?
It is the same character written two ways. HTML accepts the named entity ° as well as ° and °. CSS uses the escape \00B0 inside a content property. Both produce U+00B0.
How do I copy the degree sign symbol?
Click the ° above or the copy button and it is placed on your clipboard. Paste it anywhere with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V. It is a real text character, so it works in documents, chats and code.
What is the Unicode code point for degree sign?
The degree sign has the Unicode code point U+00B0. In HTML you can write it as ° or °, or with the named entity °.
What is the alt code for the degree sign symbol?
On Windows, hold the Alt key and type Alt 0176 or Alt 248 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt. Copying the ° from this page is quicker and works on any device.
Is the degree sign an emoji or a text character?
It is a plain Unicode text character, not an image or an emoji sticker. That means the ° inherits the surrounding font, size and color wherever you paste it, and it works in places emoji often do not, such as usernames, file names and code.
Related symbols
Browse the full math symbols hub, or return to the searchable symbol grid.