Looking to insert ‘[’ and ‘]’ when you make changes to quoted text, for instance, or give a range of numbers? Find out here how to type square brackets on a Mac, even if you do not spot them initially on your keyboard.
First, Where to Put Your Bakery
One of the first big, factory-like bakeries (with large machinery and division of labor) in the city of Vienna was constructed near the end of the 18th century on top of a hill south of the city’s center.
The location was no accident.
For every morning, dozens upon dozens of heavy horse-drawn carts left the bakery stacked with bread and pastries. They had an easy (and achieved a fast) time going down the hill.
If you are now wondering whether the mills where on a mountain just south of the hill with flour going downhill at night: no, the horses drawing the flour carts were at a disadvantage.
Either way, typing square brackets is all downhill-easy on a Mac:
How to Type Square Brackets ( [ ] ) on a Mac
Using Windows? How to Type Square Brackets ( [ ] ) on Windows
Time needed: 1 minute
To insert square brackets on a Mac fast using the keyboard:
- Position the text cursor where you want to insert the brackets.
Here’s where: Use brackets for mathematical notation and to mark your insertions, elisions, or changes inside quoted text; see below.
- Press, not too surprisingly, [ and ] respectively.
Non-US keyboards: On Non-U.S. keyboard layouts, brackets are not quite so easy to find; see below for spotting and inserting them.
In Microsoft Word for Mac (and LaTeX), you can also use square brackets to create matrices and in other equations.
Find the Square Bracket Key Combination for Your Keyboard Layout
To discover which key combinations let you insert the square brackets with your Mac’s keyboard:
- Open Keyboard Viewer.
- Look for square brackets in the top left corner of keys; you can then reach them pressing Shift and these characters.
- Press the Option key.
- Look for brackets on keys or, again, in the top left corner; if they are in the corner, Option Shift and these keys are your ticket.
Examples of Square Brackets on International Keyboards
Here are a few examples for how diverse the placement of brackets can be on the keyboard:
- On a Spanish keyboard, press Shift { for
[
and Shift } for]
. - On a French keyboard, press Option Shift ( for
[
and Option Shift ) for]
. - Using a Japanese kana layout (not Romaji, which works like the U.S. keyboard for square brackets), press Command ゛ for
[
and Command む for]
. - On a German keyboard, press Option 5 for
[
and Option 6 for]
. - Using a Russian Cyrillic keyboard layout, press Shift ] for
[
and, well, ] for]
.
Different type of squaring: How to Type “Squared” ( ² ) on a Mac
Insert Square Brackets Using Mac Character Viewer
You can also insert square brackets without so much as typing them, of course.
To input brackets with the Mac Character Viewer:
- Put the text insertion cursor where you want to insert the opening or closing square bracket.
- Select Edit | Emoji & Symbols from the menu.
macOS keyboard shortcut: You can press Command Control Space, Fn E or 🌐︎ to open the emoji panel. - Search for
bracket
.
Category: In full Character Viewer, you can also open the Parentheses category, of course. - Double-click the LEFT SQUARE BRACKET and RIGHT SQUERE BRACKET characters respectively to insert them.
Emoji panel: Searching forbracket
also works in the macOS emoji panel.
How to Type Square Brackets ( [ ] ) on a Mac: FAQ
Where should I use brackets?
Quoted Text and Phonetics
Use square brackets whenever you change something inside quoted text.
Examples: When you remove a portion, for example, insert […] in its stead; if your quote begins with “She said” and you want to explain who she is, replace “She” with [Mrs. Seacole] said.
Phonetic transcriptions are also usually between square brackets.
Example: bracket [brăk′ĭt].
Mathematics
Square brackets also find many a use in mathematics, of course. A few prominent occasions include:
- Closed interval: Use square brackets to indicate a closed (inclusive) interval.
Example:[1, 5]
means all numbers ≥ 0 and ≤ 5. - Vector product: Square brackets can stand for the triple product.
Example:[a⃗, b⃗, c⃗]
is equivalent to (a⃗ ⨯ b⃗) · c⃗. - Matrices: Square brackets that extend beyond the line of text are used for matrices.
Does using Unicode work for typing brackets on a Mac?
Yes.
You can add brackets anywhere in macOS using Unicode:
- Enable and turn on Unicode Hex Input on your Mac.
- Press and hold Option.
- Type 0 0 5 B for [;
type 0 0 5 D for ]. - Let go of the Option key.
Can I copy and paste brackets?
Yes, certainly.
If there is no way locating brackets on your keyboard, you can easily copy them
left bracket [ | |
right bracket ] |
(How to type square brackets on a Mac tested with macOS Sequoia 15.0, Sonoma 14.3, Ventura 13.1 and Monterey 12.4; first published January 2022, last updated September 2024)