SymbolHub

Beamed Eighth Notes (♫)

The beamed eighth notes ♫ is Unicode U+266B, two eighth notes joined by a beam. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard, or type it with Alt + 14 on Windows.

Unicode
U+266B
HTML
♫
Windows
Alt + 14

How to type the beamed eighth notes (♫)

The quickest way is to press Copy above and paste. To type ♫ yourself, use the method for your device below.

Windows

  1. Hold Alt and type 14 on the numeric keypad. This older code (from code page 437) works in Notepad, Word and most desktop apps.
  2. In Word or Outlook, type 266B and press Alt + X. Alt + X converts the hex code before the cursor into the character, and back again.
  3. Press Win + R, type charmap and press Enter. Tick “Advanced view”, search for Beamed Eighth Notes, then Select and Copy. Character Map is built into every version of Windows.

Mac

  1. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for beamed eighth and double-click it.
  2. With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 266B.

Linux & ChromeOS

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 266b, then press Enter or Space. Works in GTK and IBus apps (GNOME, Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice) and on ChromeOS.

iPhone & iPad

  1. Copy ♫ from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;beam. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.

Android

  1. Copy ♫ here, then open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and add it with a shortcut.

Microsoft Word

  1. Type 266B, then press Alt + X.
  2. Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 266B in “Character code” and click Insert.

Google Docs

  1. Insert → Special characters, then search for “beamed eighth” or draw it in the box.

Excel & Google Sheets

  1. Enter =UNICHAR(9835) in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

HTML

  1. Write ♫ or ♫ in your HTML.

What does ♫ mean?

♫ shows two eighth notes (quavers) whose stems are connected by a horizontal beam. Composers beam short notes together so the rhythm is easier to read in groups; two beamed quavers together last one beat in 4/4 time.

Outside notation, ♫ is the go-to “melody” symbol. It suits headings such as ♫ Now Playing, bios of musicians and DJs, and messages about songs. The IBM PC included it right next to ♪, so Alt + 14 types it in Notepad and most desktop programs. The emoji 🎶 (multiple musical notes) is its colourful cousin for chat apps.

Beamed Eighth Notes codes for HTML, CSS and programming

Every code below produces ♫. Use the HTML entity in web pages, the CSS escape in content, and the escape sequence in source code.

Unicode code pointU+266B
HTML decimal♫
HTML hex♫
CSS contentcontent: "\266B";
JavaScript"\u266B"
Python"\u266B"
Python (by name)"\N{BEAMED EIGHTH NOTES}"
Java / C#"\u266B"
UTF-8 bytesE2 99 AB
UTF-16266B
URL encoded%E2%99%AB
Alt code (CP437)Alt + 14

♫ vs look-alike characters

These characters look similar to ♫ but have a different meaning and code. Pasting the wrong one can break search, sorting and screen readers.

CharNameWhen to use it
Eighth Note
U+266A		A single eighth note with a flag instead of a beam.
Beamed Sixteenth Notes
U+266C		Beamed sixteenth notes, which have two beams and move twice as fast.
Multiple Musical Notes
U+1F3B6		Multiple musical notes emoji, always in colour.

Symbols similar to ♫

Click to copy, or open a symbol for its codes. See the full music symbols collection.

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♫ character properties

Official Unicode name
BEAMED EIGHTH NOTES
Also known as
double music note, two eighth notes, beamed quavers
Code point
U+266B
Unicode block
Miscellaneous Symbols (U+2600–U+26FF)
General category
Other symbol (So)
Added in
Unicode 1.1 (1993)
Plane
Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
Emoji
No, it is a text symbol

Frequently asked questions

What does ♫ mean in a text message?

It usually means music: the sender is singing, listening to a song or adding a playful, musical tone.

How long do beamed eighth notes last?

Each eighth note is half a beat in common time, so the beamed pair ♫ fills one beat.

What is the alt code for the beamed eighth notes?

On Windows, hold Alt and type 14 on the numeric keypad to get ♫. On a laptop without a keypad, copy it from this page or use 266B then Alt + X in Word.

How do I type the beamed eighth notes on a Mac?

There is no single Option shortcut for ♫ on the US layout. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for “beamed eighth” and double-click it, or copy it from this page.

What is the HTML code for the beamed eighth notes?

♫ has no named HTML entity. Use the numeric reference ♫ or ♫, or paste the character directly into a UTF-8 page.

What is the Unicode for the beamed eighth notes?

♫ is U+266B, officially named BEAMED EIGHTH NOTES, in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).