« left guillemet
«
U+00AB
Copy as
| Character | « | |
|---|---|---|
| Unicode | U+00AB | |
| HTML decimal | « | |
| HTML hexadecimal | « | |
| HTML named entity | « | |
| CSS content | \00AB | |
| JavaScript / UTF-16 | \u00AB | |
| UTF-8 bytes | C2 AB |
Meaning & usage
Left guillemet («) indicates a direction, a transition or the next step in text.
Its orientation matters: choose a matching arrow for navigation hints, comparisons or a sequence of steps.
The left guillemet points toward the left; U+00AB distinguishes it from other arrows that can look similar at small sizes.
left guillemet occupies one Unicode code point. A similar-looking letter, punctuation mark or emoji is not necessarily interchangeable with « in search, filenames or text processing.
How to type left guillemet
- Windows
- Use Win + . for the emoji and symbol panel, or Character Map for supported fonts. In Microsoft Word, enter each hexadecimal code (AB) and press Alt + X. There is no universal decimal Alt code for this character; legacy Alt codes depend on the code page.
- Mac
- Open Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space and search for left guillemet. With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled, hold Option and enter the UTF-16 units shown above. Standard Option shortcuts do not cover every Unicode symbol.
- Linux
- In compatible GTK applications, press Ctrl + Shift + U, enter AB, then Enter. Enter each code point separately for sequences. Other desktops or apps may require their character picker.
- iPhone & Android
- Look for left guillemet in your emoji keyboard if available, or copy it here and paste. Save frequently used symbols as a text replacement or keyboard shortcut; availability varies by keyboard.