What is Character Map?

GUI utility for browsing and inserting Unicode characters. Windows: charmap.exe. Mac: Character Viewer (Control+Command+Space). Linux: gucharmap.

Character Map — Unicode Glossary

What is a Character Map?

A Character Map is an operating system utility (or standalone application) that presents a visual grid of all available characters in a font, allowing users to browse, search, identify, and copy any character — including those with no direct keyboard equivalent. Character maps are the graphical fallback when keyboard shortcuts, dead keys, or IME are unavailable or unknown for a particular character.

Every major operating system includes a built-in character map, though they vary considerably in design and capability.

Built-in Character Map Tools

Windows: Character Map (charmap.exe)

The classic Windows utility, accessible via Start → search "Character Map" or Win+R → charmap:

Displays all glyphs in a selected font
Can filter by Unicode subrange (Latin, Greek, Mathematical Operators, etc.)
Shows the character's Unicode code point, name, and Alt code in the status bar
Copy selected characters to clipboard for pasting

Windows 11 also includes the updated Emoji & Symbols panel (Win + . or Win + ;) which provides a more modern, searchable character picker.

macOS: Character Viewer

Access via Edit → Emoji & Symbols, or the keyboard shortcut (usually Ctrl + Cmd + Space). macOS Character Viewer is significantly more capable than Windows charmap:

Full Unicode search by name or keyword
Category browsing (Emoji, Symbols, Arrows, Math, CJK, etc.)
Recent and Favorites lists
Shows multiple font variants for each character
Displays Unicode metadata: name, code point, related characters
Customizable to show character categories relevant to your workflow

Linux: GNOME Character Map (gnome-characters)

A modern GTK application included in GNOME desktop environments:

# Install if not present
sudo apt install gnome-characters   # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install gnome-characters   # Fedora

Also available: gucharmap (GTK Unicode character map, more technical), kcharselect (KDE equivalent).

Character Map Use Cases

Finding a character by appearance: browse the math symbols block to find ∑ or ∫
Finding a character by name: search "pilcrow" to find ¶ (U+00B6)
Getting the code point: select a character to see U+XXXX for use in code
Testing font coverage: switch fonts in charmap to see which glyphs a font provides

Keyboard Shortcut Summary

OS	Tool	Shortcut
Windows	Emoji & Symbols	Win + . or Win + ;
Windows	Character Map	Win+R → charmap
macOS	Character Viewer	Ctrl + Cmd + Space
macOS	Emoji & Symbols (menu bar)	Edit → Emoji & Symbols
GNOME Linux	GNOME Characters	Search in Activities
Any	UnicodeFYI.com	Browser

Quick Facts

Property	Value
Windows built-in	charmap.exe (Character Map)
Windows modern panel	Win + . (Emoji & Symbols)
macOS built-in	Character Viewer (Ctrl+Cmd+Space)
Linux GNOME	gnome-characters, gucharmap
Linux KDE	kcharselect
Primary function	Browse, search, copy any Unicode character
Search capability	By name (macOS, GNOME) or range (Windows charmap)
Output	Copy to clipboard for pasting into any application

Character Map