Looking for a historic character to mark the start of a new paragraph or a modern symbol to refer to a section in a statute? Find out here how to type the paragraph symbol (pilcrow ¶) on a Mac using the keyboard and Character Viewer.
First, South, South and Train Some
Camila and Rodrigo are just two you can join for a journey around the fin del mundo.
The local railway has a few locomotives more, all with unique names. Originally built as part of a prison colony, Ushuaia and its railroad at the southern outskirts of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina are today the world’s southernmost town and railway, appropriately marketed, of course, as the end of the world.
Now, the end of a paragraph often marks the beginning of a new one—and when you have no space to waste, you can mark that with a character:
How to Type the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) on a Mac
Time needed: 1 minute
To enter the pilcrow paragraph symbol ( ¶ ) using the keyboard on a Mac:
- Position the text cursor where you want to insert the paragraph symbol.
- Press Option 7 to insert
¶.Other keyboard layouts: The keys above work on the U.S.-English Mac keyboard layout; you can also enter the paragraph symbol with other layouts, of course—see below.
Other paragraph symbols: In addition to the standard pilcrow, you can insert an inverted and a curved version; see below.
What next: If you use the paragraph sign to refer to a section of a document, do follow it with a non-breaking space to make sure it is not separated from the letter or number that is the reference.
Looking for the section symbol? How to Type the Section Symbol ( § ) on a Mac
Using Windows? How to Type the Paragraph Sign ( ¶ ) on Windows
Find the Key for Typing Pilcrow Using Your Mac Keyboard Layout
To identify the key or key combination that will produce the paragraph sign on your keyboard:
- Open the Mac keyboard viewer.
- Press the Option key and look for the ¶ character on the keyboard to reveal the key to press together with Option.
“Option” first: The Option key is the most common modifier key to access the paragraph symbol. - If Option yielded no result, try the Shift key individually and in combination with Option.
Example Paragraph Symbol Key Combinations on a Mac
Here are a few example keyboard layouts:
| Keyboard | Paragraph Sign ¶ |
|---|---|
| French | Option § |
| German | Option 3 |
| Hungarian | Option R |
| Italian | Option Ù |
| Spanish | Option 7 |
Enter Pilcrow, Reverse Pilcrow and Curved Paragraph Sign Using Mac Character Viewer
Only the pilcrow may be on the keyboard, but it is not the only paragraph symbol you can produce with a Mac: for the other side of the page or screen, there’s the horizontally inverted pilcrow—and a curvy-stemmed version to boot.
To enter all paragraph symbols on a Mac using Character Viewer:
- Position the text cursor where you want to insert the paragraph sign.
- Select Edit | Emoji & Symbols from the menu.
- In either the emoji panel or Character Viewer’s search field, type
–pilcrowfor the pilcrow and reverse pilcrow and
–paragraphfor the calligraphic, curved pilcrow. - Click (emoji panel) or double-click (Character Viewer) the desired paragraph symbol to insert it.
How to Type the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) on a Mac: FAQ
My keyboard offers no access to the pilcrow or other paragraph symbols; can I copy them?
Yes, certainly.
Use the table below to copy the desired paragraph sign for pasting wherever you need it:
¶ | |
⁋ | |
❡ |
Is there a HTML entity for the paragraph sign?
Yes.
In HTML source, code, use ¶ to insert the paragraph symbol ¶.
The other two paragraph signs do not come with an HTML entity, but you can use the corresponding Unicode codepoints, of course:
¶ | ¶ |
⁋ | ⁋ |
❡ | ❡ |
(How to type the paragraph symbol on a Mac tested with macOS Sonoma 14.1, Ventura 13.3 and Monterey 12.3; updated December 2023)