U+2423 "␣" Open Box Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
␣
U+2423 "␣" Open Box is a typographic symbol primarily used to represent a visual placeholder for a space character in text, often employed in computer programming, data formatting, or editing to show where a space exists when it would otherwise be invisible. It typically appears as an empty, open rectangular box, distinguishing it from other whitespace indicators like the middle dot or the blank symbol. This character helps clarify spacing in code reviews, plain text analysis, or when teaching about whitespace, ensuring that the presence of a space is explicitly marked without ambiguity.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+2423 |
| Version Added | 1.1 |
| Name | Open Box |
| Block | Control Pictures |
| General Category | Other Symbol |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Other Neutral |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ␣ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ␣ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE2 0x90 0xA3 |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x2423 |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x00002423 |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u2423 |
Unicode Properties
| NFC Quick Check | Yes |
| NFD Quick Check | Yes |
| NFKC Quick Check | Yes |
| NFKD Quick Check | Yes |
| Numeric Type | None |
| Numeric Value | NaN |
| Line Break | Alphabetic |
| Script | Common |
| Script Extensions | Common |
| Indic Syllabic Category | Other |
| Pattern Syntax | Yes |
| Vertical Orientation | Rotated |
| Grapheme Base | Yes |
| Grapheme Cluster Break | Other |
| Word Break | Other |
| Sentence Break | Other |