Unicode Text Converter
Unicode is the character standard that lets computers represent text from many writing systems, symbols, emoji, punctuation marks, and control characters in one shared code space. This calculator focuses on one precise part of that standard: code points. In one direction it converts text to U plus hexadecimal notation such as U+0048 U+0069. In the other direction it decodes valid code point tokens back into text.
Despite the broad name, this page does not style text into mathematical bold, circled, gothic, or upside-down characters. It is an inspection and decoding tool. Use it when you want to identify exactly which character is present, share a code point with a developer, debug a copy-paste issue, or explain why two symbols that look similar are not the same.
What Unicode code points are
A Unicode code point is a number assigned to a character. The letter H is U+0048, the lowercase i is U+0069, the space character is U+0020, and the grinning face emoji is U+1F600. The “U+” prefix tells readers that the number is written in Unicode hexadecimal notation.
Code points are different from fonts and different from byte encodings. A font decides how a character looks on screen. UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32 decide how a code point is stored as bytes. This converter stays at the code point level so the result is stable across fonts and platforms.
Accepted code formats
| Input token | How the calculator reads it | Example result |
|---|---|---|
| U+0048 | Hexadecimal after U+ | H |
| 0x48 | Hexadecimal after 0x | H |
| 72 | Decimal code point | H |
| 1F600 | Bare hexadecimal because it contains F | 😀 |
| 0048 | Decimal because it contains only digits | 0 |
That last row is an important edge case in the current calculation. The result note says decimal values, hexadecimal values, or U+ notation are accepted, but bare all-digit tokens are treated as decimal first. For unambiguous hexadecimal, include U+ or 0x.
Exact behavior of this calculator
In Text to codes mode, the calculation converts the input string with Array.from(text). For each character it calls codePointAt(0), formats the number in uppercase hexadecimal, pads to at least four digits, and prefixes it with U+. The primary result is the space-separated U+ list. The secondary lines show decimal code points, the number of characters, and the mode label. If the input is empty, the primary and decimal fields display an em dash.
In Codes to text mode, the input is split on spaces, commas, or semicolons. Empty tokens are discarded. A token that matches U+ followed by hex digits is parsed as hexadecimal. A token that matches 0x followed by hex digits is also parsed as hexadecimal. A token containing only decimal digits is parsed as decimal. A bare token of two to six hexadecimal characters is parsed as hexadecimal only if it did not already match the decimal rule. Any point below 0 or above U+10FFFF makes the result invalid. Valid points are passed to String.fromCodePoint.
Worked examples with checked results
The default input is Hi in text-to-codes mode. The calculator reads H as decimal 72, formats it as hex 48, pads it to four digits, and displays U+0048. It reads i as decimal 105, formats it as hex 69, and displays U+0069. The primary result is U+0048 U+0069. The decimal line is 72 105, the character count is 2, and the copy text is U+0048 U+0069.
For the reverse direction, enter 72 105 in codes-to-text mode. Both tokens are all digits, so they are parsed as decimal. Decimal 72 becomes H and decimal 105 becomes i. The primary result is Hi, the code-points-read line is 2, and the hex line is U+0048 U+0069.
For an emoji, enter U+1F600. The parser reads hexadecimal 1F600 and decodes it to 😀. Entering 1F600 also works because the token contains F, which prevents it from being treated as decimal.
Uses, limits, and related tools
Unicode code point inspection is useful for spotting nonbreaking spaces, curly quotes, look-alike letters, emoji sequences, and symbols copied from rich text. It also helps explain why a database, URL, or program accepts one character but not another. For related OverCalculator pages, see the digital storage converter for bytes and units, the lowercase to uppercase converter for case transformation, and the leet-speak translator for a playful substitution system.
The main pitfalls are confusing code points with bytes, assuming every visible glyph is one code point, and omitting a prefix on hexadecimal values that contain only digits. Combining marks, variation selectors, and zero-width joiners can make a displayed character more complicated than it appears. When precision matters, copy the U+ output rather than describing the character by sight.
Sources
- Unicode Consortium, What is Unicode? — overview of the Unicode Standard.
- Unicode Consortium, Unicode FAQ: Basic Questions — definitions of characters, code points, and encodings.
- Unicode Consortium, Unicode Character Code Charts — official code chart index.