--- title: "Unicode Character Lookup - Codes and Encodings | CanDoYa" description: "Look up any Unicode character or code point. See its name, U+ value, decimal number, UTF-8, UTF-16, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS encodings." url: https://candoya.com/tools/unicode-character-lookup/ locale: en type: browser-tool --- # Unicode Character Lookup Category: Developer ## What is a Unicode character lookup? A Unicode character lookup identifies the code point behind a letter, symbol, emoji, space, or control character. Paste text or enter a value such as U+1F680 to see the official name, decimal number, UTF-8 bytes, UTF-16 units, and copy-ready HTML, JavaScript, and CSS escapes. The lookup runs locally as you type. It never uploads your text, and the Unicode name database is downloaded as a static browser asset. Character mode keeps spaces and invisible formatting marks visible with short labels. Code-point mode accepts common forms such as `U+1F680`, `128640`, `🚀`, and `\u{1F680}`. ## How to use it 1. **Choose an input mode** - Use Characters for pasted text, symbols, or emoji. Use Code points for U+, decimal, hexadecimal, HTML, or JavaScript notation. 2. **Enter up to 64 code points** - The tool separates the input by Unicode code point and loads the official Unicode 17.0 name for each value. 3. **Compare the encodings** - Read the decimal value, UTF-8 bytes, UTF-16 units, HTML reference, JavaScript escape, and CSS escape on each card. 4. **Copy the result** - Copy one character report or copy every result as a plain-text reference for code, documentation, or a bug report. ## Who it's for - **Developers debugging encoding** can compare the same character across UTF-8 bytes, UTF-16 units, HTML references, and source-code escapes. - **Designers and content teams** can identify a pasted symbol or emoji before reusing it in a product, document, or social post. - **Localization engineers** can expose invisible spaces, joiners, variation selectors, and combining marks that make two strings look alike but behave differently. - **Students learning Unicode** can see why one visible emoji may contain several code points and why characters above U+FFFF use two UTF-16 units. ## Expert note JavaScript strings use UTF-16, so an emoji such as `🚀` occupies two 16-bit code units (`D83D DE80`) but is one Unicode code point (`U+1F680`). A family emoji or accented letter can still contain several code points joined into one visible grapheme, which is why this tool shows code points rather than visual-character counts. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is this Unicode character lookup free? Yes. You can inspect up to 64 code points at once without signing up. The limit keeps the result cards quick and readable, and you can clear the field and inspect another group immediately. ### Is my text uploaded anywhere? No. Parsing and encoding happen entirely in your browser. The Unicode name database is a static site asset; your input is not sent with that request or stored on a server. ### How do I find the Unicode code point for a character? Choose Characters and paste or type the symbol. Its card shows a U+ value, such as U+0041 for A, plus the decimal value and encodings. Spaces, line breaks, joiners, and variation selectors receive visible labels so they are not mistaken for blank results. ### Can I turn a Unicode code point into a character? Yes. Choose Code points and enter a value such as U+1F680, 0x1F680, decimal 128640, an HTML reference, or a JavaScript Unicode escape. The decoded character and every equivalent encoding appear together. ### Why does one emoji show several code points? Some displayed emoji are grapheme sequences made from multiple Unicode code points. Skin tones, variation selectors, regional indicators, and zero-width joiners can combine several values into one visible symbol. The tool lists those underlying values separately so you can diagnose the exact text. ### What is the difference between UTF-8 and UTF-16 here? UTF-8 represents a code point with one to four bytes. UTF-16 uses one 16-bit unit for values in the Basic Multilingual Plane and a surrogate pair for higher values. Both columns encode the same Unicode code point in different formats. ### Which Unicode version provides the character names? The bundled name database follows Unicode 17.0. It includes assigned character names, useful aliases for controls, algorithmic names for ranges such as Hangul and CJK, and labels for private-use, reserved, and noncharacter values. ## Related tools - [HTML Entity Encode and Decode](https://candoya.com/tools/html-entity-encode-decode/) - [Base64 Encode and Decode](https://candoya.com/tools/base64-encode-decode/) - [URL Encode and Decode](https://candoya.com/tools/url-encode-decode/) - [Number Base Converter](https://candoya.com/tools/number-base-converter/) - [Character Counter](https://candoya.com/tools/character-counter/) --- *Markdown edition of , published for AI agents and other automated readers. Index of key pages: .*