Not Sign (¬)

The not sign ¬ is Unicode U+00AC, the logical negation sign. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard, or type it with Alt + 0172 on Windows or Option + L on a Mac.

Unicode: U+00AC
HTML: ¬
Windows: Alt + 0172
Mac: Option + L

How to type the not sign (¬)

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 + 0172. On a Mac it is Option + L.

Windows

Hold Alt and type 0172 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 170 on the numeric keypad. This older code (from code page 437) works in Notepad, Word and most desktop apps.
In Word or Outlook, type 00AC 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 Not Sign, then Select and Copy. Character Map is built into every version of Windows.

Mac

Press Option+L. On the standard US and US-International layouts.
Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for not sign and double-click it.

Linux & ChromeOS

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

iPhone & iPad

Copy ¬ from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;not. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.

Android

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

Microsoft Word

Type 00AC, then press Alt + X.
Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 00AC in “Character code” and click Insert.
On a Mac, Option+L works in Word too.

Google Docs

Insert → Special characters, then search for “not sign” or draw it in the box.

Excel & Google Sheets

Enter =UNICHAR(172) in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

HTML

Write ¬ or ¬ in your HTML.

What does ¬ mean?

¬ is logical negation: ¬P is true exactly when P is false. Arend Heyting’s notation spread through logic textbooks, and ¬ is now the standard in philosophy and computer science courses. Many texts use ~P instead, and programming languages use ! or the keyword not. On old IBM keyboards ¬ had its own key, which is why it is still in the Latin-1 set and on many UK keyboard layouts.

Common uses

Propositional logic: ¬(P ∧ Q)
Truth tables and circuit design notes

Not Sign 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.

Codes for ¬
Unicode code point	`U+00AC`
HTML entity (named)	`¬`
HTML decimal	`¬`
HTML hex	`¬`
CSS content	`content: "\AC";`
JavaScript	`"\u00AC"`
Python	`"\u00AC"`
Python (by name)	`"\N{NOT SIGN}"`
Java / C#	`"\u00AC"`
LaTeX	`\neg`
UTF-8 bytes	`C2 AC`
UTF-16	`00AC`
URL encoded	`%C2%AC`
Windows Alt code	`Alt + 0172`
Alt code (CP437)	`Alt + 170`
Mac shortcut	`Option + L`

¬ 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
	Tilde `U+007E`	Tilde, an older notation for NOT.
	Reversed Not `U+2310`	Reversed not sign, a CP437 graphics character.
	Exclamation Mark `U+0021`	Exclamation mark, NOT in most programming languages.

Symbols similar to ¬

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

¬ character properties

Official Unicode name: NOT SIGN
Also known as: logical not, negation symbol, hook, tilde not
Code point: U+00AC
Unicode block: Latin-1 Supplement (U+0080–U+00FF)
General category: Math symbol (Sm)
Added in: Unicode 1.1 (1993)
Plane: Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
Emoji: No, it is a text symbol

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ¬ and ~?

They mean the same thing in logic. ¬ is the dedicated negation sign; ~ is an older notation that is easier to type.

What is the alt code for the not sign?

On Windows, hold Alt and type 0172 on the numeric keypad to get ¬. The shorter code Alt + 170 also works in most desktop apps. On a laptop without a keypad, copy it from this page or use 00AC then Alt + X in Word.

How do I type the not sign on a Mac?

Press Option + L. 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 not sign?

Use the named entity ¬ or the numeric reference ¬ (hex ¬). All three display ¬ in every browser.

What is the Unicode for the not sign?

¬ is U+00AC, officially named NOT SIGN, in the Latin-1 Supplement block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).