Yen Sign (¥)
The yen sign ¥ is Unicode U+00A5, the sign of the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard, or type it with Alt + 0165 on Windows or Option + Y on a Mac.
- Unicode
U+00A5- HTML
¥- Windows
Alt + 0165- Mac
Option + Y
How to type the yen 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 + 0165. On a Mac it is Option + Y.
Windows
- Hold Alt and type 0165 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 157 on the numeric keypad. This older code (from code page 437) works in Notepad, Word and most desktop apps.
- In Word or Outlook, type 00A5 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 Yen Sign, then Select and Copy. Character Map is built into every version of Windows.
Mac
- Press Option+Y. On the standard US and US-International layouts.
- Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for yen and double-click it.
Linux & ChromeOS
- Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type a5, then press Enter or Space. Works in GTK and IBus apps (GNOME, Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice) and on ChromeOS.
- Press your Compose key, then Y =. Needs a Compose key set in your keyboard settings.
iPhone & iPad
- Tap 123, then #+=. The yen sign ¥ is on that page.
- Copy ¥ from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;yen. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.
Android
- In Gboard, tap ?123, then =\<. ¥ is on that page.
- Copy ¥ here, then open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and add it with a shortcut.
Microsoft Word
- Type 00A5, then press Alt + X.
- Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 00A5 in “Character code” and click Insert.
- On a Mac, Option+Y works in Word too.
Google Docs
- Insert → Special characters, then search for “yen” or draw it in the box.
Excel & Google Sheets
- Enter
=UNICHAR(165)in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.
HTML
- Write
¥or¥in your HTML.
What does ¥ mean?
¥ is the currency sign of both the Japanese yen (JPY) and the Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY). The two currencies share the sign because both names come from the same Chinese word for a round coin. Unicode has one code point for it; whether it shows one or two horizontal bars is just a font choice.
The sign goes before the amount with no space: ¥1,500. When a document mixes the two currencies, add the ISO code or a prefix, such as JP¥ and CN¥, so readers know which one you mean. In Japanese text the kanji 円 is common after the number (1,500円), and Chinese text often uses 元.
A quirk worth knowing: in Japanese fonts the backslash key displays as ¥, because the old JIS character set put ¥ where ASCII has . That is why Windows file paths appear as C:¥Users on Japanese systems.
Common uses
- Japanese prices: ¥980 or 980円
- Chinese prices: ¥88 or 88元
- Exchange-rate tables: USD/JPY 150.2
Yen 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.
| Unicode code point | U+00A5 | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML entity (named) | ¥ | |
| HTML decimal | ¥ | |
| HTML hex | ¥ | |
| CSS content | content: "\A5"; | |
| JavaScript | "\u00A5" | |
| Python | "\u00A5" | |
| Python (by name) | "\N{YEN SIGN}" | |
| Java / C# | "\u00A5" | |
| LaTeX | \textyen | |
| UTF-8 bytes | C2 A5 | |
| UTF-16 | 00A5 | |
| URL encoded | %C2%A5 | |
| Windows Alt code | Alt + 0165 | |
| Alt code (CP437) | Alt + 157 | |
| Mac shortcut | Option + Y |
¥ 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 |
|---|---|---|
Fullwidth YenU+FFE5 | Fullwidth yen sign, used inside Japanese and Chinese text so it matches the width of kanji. | |
CJK Unified Ideograph-5186U+5186 | The kanji “en”, the Japanese word for yen, written after the number. | |
CJK Unified Ideograph-5143U+5143 | The Chinese character “yuan”, written after the number in Chinese. |
Symbols similar to ¥
Click to copy, or open a symbol for its codes. See the full currency symbols collection.
¥ character properties
- Official Unicode name
- YEN SIGN
- Also known as
- yen symbol, yuan symbol, JPY sign, CNY sign
- Code point
- U+00A5
- Unicode block
- Latin-1 Supplement (U+0080–U+00FF)
- General category
- Currency symbol (Sc)
- Added in
- Unicode 1.1 (1993)
- Plane
- Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
- Emoji
- No, it is a text symbol
Frequently asked questions
Is the yen sign the same as the yuan sign?
Yes. Unicode uses one character, ¥ (U+00A5), for both the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan. Add JP¥ or CN¥, or the ISO code, when you need to tell them apart.
Why does my backslash show as ¥?
Japanese fonts draw the backslash (U+005C) as a yen sign for compatibility with the old JIS X 0201 character set. The character is still a backslash, so paths and code keep working.
What is the alt code for the yen sign?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0165 on the numeric keypad to get ¥. The shorter code Alt + 157 also works in most desktop apps. On a laptop without a keypad, copy it from this page or use 00A5 then Alt + X in Word.
How do I type the yen sign on a Mac?
Press Option + Y. 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 yen sign?
Use the named entity ¥ or the numeric reference ¥ (hex ¥). All three display ¥ in every browser.
What is the Unicode for the yen sign?
¥ is U+00A5, officially named YEN SIGN, in the Latin-1 Supplement block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).