Which star to use
| Need | Try |
|---|---|
| A rating | ★★★★☆ |
| A bullet in a list | ✦ ⋆ ✧ |
| A soft, aesthetic sparkle | ✧˖° ⋆｡°✩ |
| Something bold next to a name | ★彡 ✪ ✯ |
| Color | ⭐ 🌟 ✨ 💫 |
Black and white stars
In Unicode names, "black" means filled and "white" means outlined: ★ is the black star and ☆ the white star, whatever color your text is. The same goes for ✦ and ✧, the black and white four-pointed stars that most "sparkle" combos are built from.
The stars from ✩ to ✰ come from the Dingbats block, a set of printer's ornaments added to Unicode early on, so they are on nearly every device. The ⛤ to ⛧ pentagrams and ⚝ are newer and may be missing on older phones.
Star ratings in plain text
A rating written as ★★★☆☆ is ordinary text, so it pastes into a review, a spreadsheet cell or a message without an image. Mixing ★ and ☆ keeps every star the same width in most fonts; mixing ★ with the ⭐ emoji does not.
Star codes
| Symbol | Unicode name | Code point | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|
| ★ | black star | U+2605 | ★ |
| ☆ | white star | U+2606 | ☆ |
| ✦ | black four pointed star | U+2726 | ✦ |
| ✧ | white four pointed star | U+2727 | ✧ |
| ✩ | stress outlined white star | U+2729 | ✩ |
| ✪ | circled white star | U+272A | ✪ |
| ✫ | open centre black star | U+272B | ✫ |
| ✬ | black centre white star | U+272C | ✬ |
| ✭ | outlined black star | U+272D | ✭ |
| ✮ | heavy outlined black star | U+272E | ✮ |
| ✯ | pinwheel star | U+272F | ✯ |
| ✰ | shadowed white star | U+2730 | ✰ |
| ⋆ | star operator | U+22C6 | ⋆ |
| ✱ | heavy asterisk | U+2731 | ✱ |
| ✲ | open centre asterisk | U+2732 | ✲ |
| ✳ | eight spoked asterisk | U+2733 | ✳ |
| ✴ | eight pointed black star | U+2734 | ✴ |
| ✵ | eight pointed pinwheel star | U+2735 | ✵ |
| ✶ | six pointed black star | U+2736 | ✶ |
| ✷ | eight pointed rectilinear black star | U+2737 | ✷ |
| ✸ | heavy eight pointed rectilinear black star | U+2738 | ✸ |
| ✹ | twelve pointed black star | U+2739 | ✹ |
| ✺ | sixteen pointed asterisk | U+273A | ✺ |
| ✻ | teardrop-spoked asterisk | U+273B | ✻ |
| ✼ | open centre teardrop-spoked asterisk | U+273C | ✼ |
| ✽ | heavy teardrop-spoked asterisk | U+273D | ✽ |
| ❂ | circled open centre eight pointed star | U+2742 | ❂ |
| ⁂ | asterism | U+2042 | ⁂ |
| ⁎ | low asterisk | U+204E | ⁎ |
| ⁑ | two asterisks aligned vertically | U+2051 | ⁑ |
| ⍟ | apl functional symbol circle star | U+235F | ⍟ |
| ⚝ | outlined white star | U+269D | ⚝ |
| ⛤ | pentagram | U+26E4 | ⛤ |
| ⛥ | right-handed interlaced pentagram | U+26E5 | ⛥ |
| ⛦ | left-handed interlaced pentagram | U+26E6 | ⛦ |
| ⛧ | inverted pentagram | U+26E7 | ⛧ |
| ✡ | star of david | U+2721 | ✡ |
| ∗ | asterisk operator | U+2217 | ∗ |
| ⭐ | white medium star | U+2B50 | ⭐ |
| ✨ | sparkles | U+2728 | ✨ |
Questions
How do I get a star symbol on my keyboard?
Most keyboards have no ★ key. Tap a star here to copy it and paste it where you need it. On a phone you can also save one as a text replacement shortcut.
What is the sparkle symbol called?
The four-pointed ✦ is the black four pointed star and ✧ the white four pointed star. The colored ✨ is the sparkles emoji.
Why do some stars look different in each app?
Text stars use the app's font, and fonts draw them slightly differently. Star emoji use each phone maker's emoji art.
How do I write a half star rating?
There is no widely supported half star character, so most people round, for example ★★★★☆ for 4 or 4.5.