Guillemets («)
The guillemets « is Unicode U+00AB, the European angle quotation marks used in French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian text. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard, or type it with Alt + 0171 on Windows or Option + \ on a Mac.
- Unicode
U+00AB- HTML
«- Windows
Alt + 0171- Mac
Option + \
How to type the guillemets («)
The quickest way is to press Copy above and paste. To type « yourself, use the method for your device below. On Windows the alt code is Alt + 0171. On a Mac it is Option + \.
Windows
- Hold Alt and type 0171 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt. Num Lock must be on. This uses the Windows-1252 code page, so it works in almost every Windows app.
- Hold Alt and type 174 on the numeric keypad. This older code (from code page 437) works in Notepad, Word and most desktop apps.
- In Word or Outlook, type 00AB and press Alt + X. Alt + X converts the hex code before the cursor into the character, and back again.
- Press Win + R, type charmap and press Enter. Tick “Advanced view”, search for Left-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark, then Select and Copy. Character Map is built into every version of Windows.
Mac
- Press Option+\. On the standard US and US-International layouts.
- Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for guillemets and double-click it.
Linux & ChromeOS
- Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type ab, then press Enter or Space. Works in GTK and IBus apps (GNOME, Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice) and on ChromeOS.
- Press your Compose key, then < <. Needs a Compose key set in your keyboard settings.
iPhone & iPad
- Tap 123, then touch and hold " and slide to «.
- Copy « from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;guil. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.
Android
- In Gboard, long-press " on the ?123 page.
- Copy « here, then open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and add it with a shortcut.
Microsoft Word
- Type 00AB, then press Alt + X.
- Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 00AB in “Character code” and click Insert.
- On a Mac, Option+\ works in Word too.
Google Docs
- Insert → Special characters, then search for “guillemets” or draw it in the box.
Excel & Google Sheets
- Enter
=UNICHAR(171)in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.
HTML
- Write
«or«in your HTML.
What does « mean?
Guillemets (« »), frequently termed French quotation marks or angle quotes, are the classical double chevron marks used to enclose direct speech and citations across Continental European languages. Popularized in Renaissance Paris by sixteenth-century French typecutter Guillaume Le Bé, guillemets remain the standard quotation marks of French, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, and Russian publishing.
Unlike English curly quotes, French typographic rules require placing a non-breaking space inside each guillemet (e.g. « Bonjour ! »). In Spanish and Russian literature, guillemets often enclose outer quotations while curly quotes or the horizontal bar denote nested speech. In modern digital web interfaces, developers also use guillemets as compact breadcrumb arrows and pagination chevrons. Contrast guillemets with the apostrophe and explore global punctuation in quotation marks.
Common uses
- Standard quotation framing in French literature: « La vie est un mystère »
- Dialogue citation in Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese publishing
- Website pagination controls and navigation breadcrumbs: « Previous | Next »
Guillemets 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 point | U+00AB | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML entity (named) | « | |
| HTML decimal | « | |
| HTML hex | « | |
| CSS content | content: "\AB"; | |
| JavaScript | "\u00AB" | |
| Python | "\u00AB" | |
| Python (by name) | "\N{LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK}" | |
| Java / C# | "\u00AB" | |
| UTF-8 bytes | C2 AB | |
| UTF-16 | 00AB | |
| URL encoded | %C2%AB | |
| Windows Alt code | Alt + 0171 | |
| Alt code (CP437) | Alt + 174 | |
| Mac shortcut | Option + \ |
« 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.
| Char | Name | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
Less-Than Sign + Less-ThanU+003C U+003C | Two ASCII less-than symbols. Lacks proper typographic chevron kerning and proportions. | |
Right-Pointing Double Angle Quotation MarkU+00BB | Right-pointing guillemet (U+00BB). The closing counterpart to « in European typography. | |
Left Double Angle BracketU+300A | Left double angle bracket (U+300A). Fullwidth CJK punctuation mark used for book titles. |
Symbols similar to «
Click to copy, or open a symbol for its codes. See the full quotation marks collection.
« character properties
- Official Unicode name
- LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
- Also known as
- french quotes, angle quotes, duckfoot quotes, chevron quotation marks
- Code point
- U+00AB
- Unicode block
- Latin-1 Supplement (U+0080–U+00FF)
- General category
- Initial quote punctuation (Pi)
- Added in
- Unicode 1.1 (1993)
- Plane
- Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
- Emoji
- No, it is a text symbol
Frequently asked questions
Why are angle quotes called guillemets?
They are named after the French punchcutter Guillaume Le Bé (1525–1598), whose diminutive name “Guillemet” became synonymous with the angle quotation marks he championed.
Do guillemets take spaces inside them?
In French publishing, a non-breaking space is strictly required inside each guillemet (« exemple »). In Spanish and Italian, no internal spaces are used («ejemplo»).
How do I type guillemets on keyboard?
On Mac, press Option + \ for « and Option + Shift + \ for ». On Windows, hold Alt and type 0171 for « and Alt + 0187 for » on the numeric keypad. In HTML, use « and ».
What is the alt code for the guillemets?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0171 on the numeric keypad to get «. The shorter code Alt + 174 also works in most desktop apps. On a laptop without a keypad, copy it from this page or use 00AB then Alt + X in Word.
How do I type the guillemets on a Mac?
Press Option + \. It works in every app on the US keyboard layout. You can also open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space and search for it.
What is the HTML code for the guillemets?
Use the named entity « or the numeric reference « (hex «). All three display « in every browser.
What is the Unicode for the guillemets?
« is U+00AB, officially named LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK, in the Latin-1 Supplement block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).