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What is Hex Input?

Hex input refers to methods for entering a Unicode character by typing its hexadecimal code point value directly. Instead of navigating a character picker or memorizing keyboard shortcuts, you type the four- or five-character hex representation of a character's Unicode value and invoke a conversion command. This gives technically proficient users direct, precise access to any of the 1,114,112 possible Unicode code points.

Hex Input Methods by Platform

macOS: Unicode Hex Input Keyboard

macOS provides a built-in "Unicode Hex Input" keyboard layout that maps Option + hex digits to the corresponding Unicode character:

1. Go to System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → Add… → Other → Unicode Hex Input
2. Switch to this input method (via menu bar or keyboard shortcut)
3. Hold Option and type the 4-hex-digit code point: Option + 0 0 E 9 → é

For code points beyond U+FFFF (5 hex digits), type a leading zero to pad to 8 digits, or the system accepts 5-digit entries directly.

Windows: Alt+X in Microsoft Applications

In Microsoft Word, WordPad, and some other Windows apps: 1. Type the hex code point: 2014 2. Press Alt+X 3. The code is converted to the character: —

This works bidirectionally — place the cursor after a special character and press Alt+X to see its hex code point.

Linux: GTK Ctrl+Shift+U

In GTK applications (including most GNOME apps, gedit, Firefox on Linux): 1. Press Ctrl + Shift + U 2. Type the hex code point (an underlined u appears as a prompt) 3. Press Enter or Space 4. The character is inserted

Ctrl+Shift+U → type "2026" → Enter → …
Ctrl+Shift+U → type "1F600" → Enter → 😀

Terminal and Programming

In terminal emulators and programming contexts, Unicode characters are entered via escape sequences:

# Bash: $'...' ANSI-C quoting
echo $'\u00e9'      # é
echo $'\U0001F600'  # 😀 (capital U for > U+FFFF)

# Python
print("\u00e9")     # é
print("\U0001F600") # 😀

# JavaScript
"\u00e9"            // é
"\u{1F600}"         // 😀 (ES6 syntax for > U+FFFF)

# CSS
content: "\00e9";   /* é */
content: "\1F600";  /* 😀 */

Hex vs. Decimal Code Points

Unicode code points are conventionally written in hexadecimal, prefixed with U+. The decimal equivalent is rarely used in Unicode contexts (unlike the old Windows Alt codes which used decimal).

Finding a Character's Hex Value

• macOS Character Viewer: shows Unicode code point in the detail panel
• Windows Character Map: shows code point in status bar
• Python: hex(ord('é')) → '0xe9'
• JavaScript: 'é'.codePointAt(0).toString(16) → 'e9'
• UnicodeFYI.com: search by character, name, or description

Quick Facts