Star Symbols to Copy & Paste
The filled star ★ and outline star ☆ are Unicode characters (U+2605 and U+2606), not ASCII. In plain text the asterisk * has always been the ASCII stand-in for a star, and it is still what you use for ratings in code or Markdown. For a real star glyph in a bio, review, or document, copy one of the versions below.
How to type a star on Windows and Mac
On Windows, hold Alt and type 9733 on the numeric keypad for ★, or Alt+9734 for ☆. You can also use Character Map and search "star". In Word, type 2605 and press Alt+X to convert it into ★. On a Mac, there is no default keystroke for the star, so open the symbol viewer with Control+Command+Space, search "star", and double-click the one you want. Copy-and-paste from this page is the fastest route on any device.
Stars for ratings in HTML and code
A common use is a star rating. In HTML, ★ gives ★ and ☆ gives ☆, so a four-of-five rating is ★★★★☆. This is accessible when paired with a text label such as "4 out of 5", because screen readers announce the individual star characters otherwise. In source code, \u2605 is ★ and \u2606 is ☆. Keep the emoji star ⭐ (U+2B50) for social and chat, where its color reads well; use the monochrome ★ in body text so it matches the surrounding font color.