Right Arrow Symbol (→): How to Type, Copy, and Use It
The right arrow → means “to,” “next,” or “leads to,” and it does more quiet work than any other arrow. The plain one is →, the emoji is ➡️, and its cousins — ⇒, ▶, ↦ — each carry a specific meaning in math, chemistry, code, and media. Here is how to type →, where to copy every version, and which one you actually want.
In a hurry?
- Copy it: click → or ➡️ in the grid below.
- Windows: hold Alt and type 26 on the numeric keypad → →.
- Mac: open the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) and search “right arrow”.
- Phone: copy it from the grid, or pick ➡️ from the emoji keyboard.
- In HTML → is
→; in a URL it is%E2%86%92.
Table of Contents
The plain → and the emoji ➡️ are different characters — the emoji renders in color on phones, the plain one takes your text color. The variants section below sorts out ⇒, ▶, ↦, and the rest.
Right arrow symbol: every code in one table
The plain rightwards arrow, with every code you are likely to need. Copy from the grid above, or use whichever method fits the app you are in.
| Property | Right arrow |
| Character | → |
| Name | Rightwards Arrow |
| Unicode | U+2192 |
| Windows Alt code | Alt + 26 |
| Word (type + Alt+X) | 2192 |
| Mac | Character Viewer |
| HTML named | → |
| HTML numeric | → |
| URL / percent | %E2%86%92 |
Detail most guides skip: on Windows, Alt + 26 types → straight from the numeric keypad, because the arrow lives in the old code page. Its neighbors work too — Alt + 27 gives ←, Alt + 24 gives ↑, Alt + 25 gives ↓.
How to type the right arrow on any device
On Windows
Hold Alt and type 26 on the numeric keypad, then release — you get →. Num Lock has to be on, and the digits must come from the keypad, not the top row. For the color emoji ➡️, press Windows + . and search “right”. No keypad? Copy it from the grid or use Character Map.
On Mac
Open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space, search “right arrow”, and double-click →. The same picker holds the emoji ➡️ under the arrows or by searching “right”. There is no single dead-key shortcut for the plain arrow, so the picker or a copy is quickest.
On iPhone and Android
The color emoji is the easy one: open the emoji keyboard, search “right”, and tap ➡️. For the plain text →, copy it from the grid above — phone keyboards do not have a key for it.
In Microsoft Word
Type 2192 and press Alt + X, and Word turns it into →. AutoCorrect also helps: typing –> (two hyphens and a greater-than) becomes → on its own, and ==> becomes ⇒. Or use Insert → Symbol and the Arrows subset.
On Linux
Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 2192, then Enter for →. Most emoji pickers (for example Super + . in GNOME) also carry the arrow and its emoji form.
In Excel and Google Sheets
Use the formula =UNICHAR(8594) to return → in a cell. Alt + 26 works in Excel on Windows too. A right arrow is handy in spreadsheets for showing a flow or a change from one value to the next, like 10 → 15.
In HTML and CSS
In HTML, the named entity is → (also →) and the numeric is →. In a CSS content value, use \2192. Serve the page as UTF-8; arrows are not in older encodings, so the charset has to be right for them to show at all.
What does the right arrow mean?
On its own, → means “to the right,” but it does far more than point. It maps one thing to another in math, drives a reaction in chemistry, plays media, and shows a flow from step to step. There are also several look-alike arrows that each mean something exact. Here is how to tell them apart.
Which right arrow? → vs ➡️ vs ⇒ vs ▶
They all point right, but they are different characters with different jobs. Pick the one that matches your meaning.
| Symbol | Name | Unicode | Where it fits |
| → | Rightwards arrow | U+2192 | to, next, functions, reactions |
| ➡️ | Right arrow emoji | U+27A1 | chats, social, phones |
| ⇒ | Rightwards double arrow | U+21D2 | implies, “therefore” |
| ↦ | Rightwards arrow from bar | U+21A6 | “maps to” in math |
| ▶ | Black right triangle | U+25B6 | the play button |
| ⇌ | Rightwards harpoon over left | U+21CC | chemical equilibrium |
| ↪ | Rightwards arrow with hook | U+21AA | reply, redirect |
| ➞ | Heavy round-tip right arrow | U+2794 | bullets, “go” |
Right arrow in math: functions, “maps to”, and “implies”
Math leans on the right arrow in three distinct ways, and mixing them up changes the meaning. A plain → names a function’s domain and codomain: f : A → B reads “f from A to B.” The barred arrow ↦ (\mapsto) says what the function does to an element: x ↦ x² means “x maps to x squared.” And the double arrow ⇒ means implies: P ⇒ Q reads “if P then Q,” with ⇔ for “if and only if.” Three arrows, three jobs.
Right arrow in chemistry: the reaction arrow → and equilibrium ⇌
In a chemical equation, the right arrow is the reaction arrow: it means “reacts to form” or “yields.” So 2H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O reads as hydrogen and oxygen yielding water. A double harpoon ⇌ replaces it for a reversible reaction at equilibrium, and a double-headed ↔ means resonance. The arrow is doing real work here — it tells you which way the reaction runs and whether it can run back.
The play button ▶ and the arrow keys
The most-clicked right-pointing symbol is not an arrow at all but a triangle: ▶ (U+25B6) is the universal play button, with ⏭ for skip-to-next. On your keyboard, the → arrow key moves the cursor right one character, and Tab jumps it forward to the next field or indent. So “right” on screen splits into three ideas: play media, move the cursor, or advance to the next thing.
Right arrow in code: the arrows that are not →
Programmers say “arrow” constantly, but they usually mean an ASCII pair, not →. In JavaScript, => is the “fat arrow” that writes a function: x => x + 1. In C, Rust, and PHP, -> reaches into a struct or object, or marks a return type. The real Unicode → shows up mainly in comments, documentation, and languages like Haskell, where a type signature reads Int -> Int. If your code needs the arrow, type the ASCII version; save → for the prose around it.
Right arrow in flowcharts and “leads to”
Outside math and code, → is the everyday sign for a sequence: step A → step B → step C. It shows a path through a menu (File → Export → PDF), a cause leading to an effect, or a before-and-after (draft → review → publish). In breadcrumbs and instructions it is shorthand for “then,” which is why it turns up in so many how-to guides, including this one.
→ vs ➡️: the plain arrow and the emoji
These two get mixed up. The plain → (U+2192) is a text character that takes your font’s color, so it stays black in a document and lines up with your text. The emoji ➡️ is a different character (U+27A1) followed by a hidden variation selector that tells the device to draw it in color. On a phone they look clearly different; in raw code they can look identical. Use → for documents, math, and code, and ➡️ for chats and social posts.
Right arrow in URLs and encoding
In a link, → is percent-encoded as %E2%86%92 — three UTF-8 bytes, because the arrow sits high in Unicode. If → shows up as → or a box, the bytes are being read as an older encoding. Arrows are not part of Latin-1 at all, so a page stuck on an old charset cannot display them; set the file, database, and page to UTF-8 and the arrow returns.
Copy-paste HTML codes
The main right arrows with their web codes, in one place. Copy the code you need.
| Symbol | Named entity | Numeric entity | URL (percent) code |
| → | → | → | %E2%86%92 |
| ➡ | (none) | ➡ | %E2%9E%A1 |
| ⇒ | ⇒ | ⇒ | %E2%87%92 |
| ▶ | (none) | ▶ | %E2%96%B6 |
| ↦ | ↦ | ↦ | %E2%86%A6 |
In a CSS content value, use \2192 for →. For the up and down arrows and every other character, see the copy and paste symbols tool and the keyboard shortcuts guide.
Troubleshooting
My → shows as → or a box
That is an encoding mismatch — the UTF-8 bytes for the arrow are being read as an older encoding, and arrows are not in Latin-1 at all. Set the file, database, and page charset to UTF-8 and → displays correctly.
Alt + 26 does nothing
Num Lock is off, you are using the top-row numbers, or your laptop has no numeric keypad. Turn Num Lock on and use the keypad. Some apps also intercept Alt + 26; if so, type 2192 then Alt + X in Word, or copy the arrow from the grid above.
I get a colored arrow when I wanted a plain one
You copied the emoji ➡️ instead of the plain →. Grab → (U+2192) from the grid, or in code add the text variation selector (U+FE0E) after an emoji to force the flat black form.
Frequently asked questions
How do I type the right arrow →?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 26 on the numeric keypad. In Word, type 2192 then Alt + X (or just type two hyphens and a greater-than, –>). On a Mac, open the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) and search “right arrow”. Or copy it from the grid above.
What does the right arrow symbol mean?
It depends on context: “to” or “next,” a function in math (f : A → B), “maps to” (↦) or “implies” (⇒), the reaction arrow in chemistry, the play button (▶), or a step in a flow like File → Save.
What is the difference between → and ⇒?
→ (U+2192, single line) is the general “to” arrow used for functions and steps. ⇒ (U+21D2, double line) means implies in logic: P ⇒ Q is “if P then Q.” They are not interchangeable in math.
What is the difference between → and ➡️?
→ (U+2192) is a plain text arrow that takes your font color; ➡️ is the color emoji (U+27A1 plus a variation selector). Use the plain one for documents and the emoji for chats.
How do I write → in HTML?
Use the named entity → or the numeric →. In a CSS content value it is \2192, and in a URL it is %E2%86%92.
