Star and Asterisk Symbols

Stars and asterisks appear in Unicode across multiple distinct blocks — from the five-pointed stars of Miscellaneous Symbols to the ornamental asterisks of the Dingbats block and the multi-pointed sparkles used in decorative design. This guide catalogues every major star and asterisk character, explains the structural differences between them, and provides copy-paste tables, code points, and HTML entities for immediate use.

Quick Copy-Paste Table

Five-Pointed Stars (The Classic Shape)

★ Black Star — U+2605

The filled five-pointed star. This is the standard rating star used in UI components, review systems, and "favourites" indicators across the web. Because it sits in the Miscellaneous Symbols block, it renders in the current text colour by default — making it straightforward to theme with CSS.

.rating-star {
  color: #f59e0b; /* amber-400 */
  font-size: 1.25rem;
}

<span aria-label="4 out of 5 stars">
  ★★★★☆
</span>

☆ White Star — U+2606

The outlined (unfilled) counterpart to ★. Together these two characters form the most common rating widget pattern in Unicode-only layouts. The "white" in the name means unfilled, not the colour white.

⭐ Star (Emoji) — U+2B50

Originally named "White Medium Star", U+2B50 has been absorbed into the emoji set and now renders as a yellow star on all major platforms. Use this in social media posts, chat messages, or any context where you want the platform's colour rendering.

🌟 Glowing Star — U+1F31F

A yellow star with a sparkling burst around it. Platform-rendered emoji. Commonly used to indicate something exceptional ("5-star experience", "glowing review").

Sparkle and Ornament Stars

✨ Sparkles — U+2728

Technically three small stars arranged in a cluster. One of the most used emoji in social media. Visually represents "new", "clean", "magic", or emphasis. In text rendering (without the emoji font), it falls back to three asterisk-like shapes.

✦ and ✧ — Black and White Four Pointed Stars (U+2726, U+2727)

Four-pointed stars with a diamond-like cross shape. The filled (✦) and outline (✧) variants are useful as decorative section dividers and bullet accents in print design.

<p>✦ Special Edition ✦</p>

Asterisk Variants

The asterisk family in Unicode is large. The basic ASCII * (U+002A) is supplemented by many decorative and functional variants in the Dingbats block.

Why so many asterisks?

Historically, printers and typographers used asterisks as decorative ornaments (called "fleurons" or "dingbats") in broadsheets, books, and certificates. Unicode encoded these to support legacy typesetting systems and to give digital typographers access to the full ornament vocabulary.

Asterisk Reference Table

Geometric and Specialty Stars

Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows (Alt Code method)

For other stars without a short Alt code, use the Character Map (Win+R → charmap) or the emoji picker (Win+.).

macOS

Use the Character Viewer: Ctrl+Cmd+Space, then search "star" or "asterisk".

The Unicode Hex Input method works for all code points: Hold Option and type the hex digits (without U+), then release Option.

Option + 2605 → ★
Option + 2606 → ☆
Option + 2728 → ✨

Developer Reference

HTML

<!-- Rating widget — pure Unicode -->
<div class="stars" aria-label="Rated 4 out of 5">
  <span>★★★★☆</span>
</div>

<!-- Decorative divider -->
<p class="section-divider">✦ ✦ ✦</p>

CSS Content

/* Favourite button state */
.btn-favourite::before {
  content: "☆";
  color: #6b7280; /* gray-500 — unfavourited */
}
.btn-favourite.active::before {
  content: "★";
  color: #f59e0b; /* amber-400 — favourited */
}

Python

# Generate a star rating string
def star_rating(score: int, max_score: int = 5) -> str:
    filled = "★" * score
    empty  = "☆" * (max_score - score)
    return filled + empty

print(star_rating(4))  # ★★★★☆

JavaScript

function starRating(score, max = 5) {
  return "★".repeat(score) + "☆".repeat(max - score);
}
console.log(starRating(3)); // ★★★☆☆

Choosing the Right Star

Summary

Unicode stars span a spectrum from the minimal ASCII asterisk * to elaborate sixteen-pointed ornaments. For rating systems and UI, the ★/☆ pair (U+2605/U+2606) is the reliable standard. Emoji stars (⭐, ✨) bring platform colour but lose CSS theming. The Dingbats block's asterisk variants (U+2731–U+273D) give typographers a full toolkit of ornamental punctuation that scales cleanly at any font size.