SymbolHub

Black Circle (●)

The black circle ● is Unicode U+25CF, a solid filled circle used as a prominent bullet, status indicator or recording marker. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard.

Unicode
U+25CF
HTML
●
Word
25CF Alt+X

How to type the black circle (●)

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

Windows

  1. In Word or Outlook, type 25CF and press Alt + X. Alt + X converts the hex code before the cursor into the character, and back again.
  2. Press Win + R, type charmap and press Enter. Tick “Advanced view”, search for Black Circle, 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 black circle and double-click it.
  2. With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 25CF.

Linux & ChromeOS

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 25cf, 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 ;blac. 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 25CF, then press Alt + X.
  2. Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 25CF in “Character code” and click Insert.

Google Docs

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

Excel & Google Sheets

  1. Enter =UNICHAR(9679) in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

HTML

  1. Write ● or ● in your HTML.

What does ● mean?

The black circle ● (Unicode name BLACK CIRCLE, U+25CF) is a fundamental geometric glyph residing in the Geometric Shapes block. Larger and noticeably more imposing than a standard typographical bullet point, it provides authoritative visual weight on any page.

In audio and video recording equipment and software interfaces, a solid circle is the internationally recognized icon for "Record". In consumer electronics and network status monitors, ● signifies an active, connected, or live device state. It is also used extensively in board game diagrams such as Go and reversi, astronomy charts denoting the new moon, and East Asian evaluation systems.

Common uses

  • Audio and video software: indicating recording mode and active capture channels
  • System status dashboards: signaling online, live, or active states
  • Typography: serving as a bold, heavy list bullet for high-level categories
  • Diagrams and maps: representing primary cities, hubs, and focal points

Black Circle 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+25CF
HTML decimal●
HTML hex●
CSS contentcontent: "\25CF";
JavaScript"\u25CF"
Python"\u25CF"
Python (by name)"\N{BLACK CIRCLE}"
Java / C#"\u25CF"
UTF-8 bytesE2 97 8F
UTF-1625CF
URL encoded%E2%97%8F

● 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
Bullet
U+2022		Bullet point (U+2022), smaller text bullet centered on lowercase x-height.
White Circle
U+25CB		White circle (U+25CB), hollow unshaded circular outline.
Large Circle
U+2B24		Black large circle (U+2B24), an even larger geometric filled disk.
Medium Black Circle
U+26AB		Black circle emoji (U+26AB), color emoji variant.

Symbols similar to ●

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

  • Details
  • Details
  • Details

● character properties

Official Unicode name
BLACK CIRCLE
Also known as
solid circle, filled circle, black dot, record symbol
Code point
U+25CF
Unicode block
Geometric Shapes (U+25A0–U+25FF)
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

How does ● differ from the standard bullet •?

The black circle ● is significantly larger than the typographic bullet • and is centered across the entire line height rather than aligned strictly to lowercase characters.

How do I type the black circle on Windows?

Hold Alt and type 7 on the numeric keypad (CP437) in most desktop applications, or type 25CF and press Alt + X in Word.

Is there an alt code for the black circle?

No. ● is outside the Windows-1252 and code page 437 character sets, so no Alt + number code produces it. Copy it from this page, type 25CF then Alt + X in Word, or find it in Character Map.

How do I type the black circle 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 “black circle” and double-click it, or copy it from this page.

What is the HTML code for the black circle?

● 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 black circle?

● is U+25CF, officially named BLACK CIRCLE, in the Geometric Shapes block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).