U+2591 "░" Light Shade Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
░
U+2591 "░" Light Shade is a block element glyph that represents a partially filled square, specifically with a visual density of about 25% black or foreground color against the background, making it lighter than the Medium Shade (U+2592) and Dark Shade (U+2593). It is part of the Block Elements Unicode block and is often used in text-based interfaces, ASCII art, and early computer graphics to create gradients, shadows, or textured shading in a monospaced character grid. Its appearance depends on the font and rendering engine, but it typically appears as a grid of sparse dots or faint hatching, providing a way to add visual depth without relying on color.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+2591 |
| Version Added | 1.1 |
| Name | Light Shade |
| Block | Block Elements |
| General Category | Other Symbol |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Other Neutral |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ░ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ░ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE2 0x96 0x91 |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x2591 |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x00002591 |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u2591 |
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 |