The fermata symbol in music is ๐, U+1D110: a hold over a note or a rest. The musical repeat signs, ๐ and ๐, are text characters too.
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What a fermata tells the player
A fermata holds its note or rest beyond the written length. How much longer is up to the performer or the conductor; twice as long is common. Over a barline it marks the end of a phrase or a section, and in a concerto it shows where the soloist plays the cadenza. In English it is also called a hold or a pause.
Repeat sign, segno and coda
Music between ๐ and ๐ is played twice; a ๐ alone sends the player back to the start. D.S., dal segno, means go back to the segno sign. D.C., da capo, means go back to the beginning. The coda symbol, which looks like crosshairs, heads the closing section that a To Coda instruction jumps to.
Where the segno or the coda shows as an empty box, the device has no music font. The character still copies.
To type a repeat sign into text with keyboard characters only, write |: where the repeat starts and :| where it ends.
Questions and answers
How do I type a fermata symbol on a keyboard?
A standard keyboard has no fermata key. ๐ is in neither Alt code table, and its number, 119,056, lies past 65,535, the highest number a program reads after Alt. Copy it, or write 𝄐 in HTML.
What is the coda symbol to copy and paste?
๐, U+1D10C, Musical symbol coda. The segno is ๐, U+1D10B. Both sit in the Musical Symbols block with the fermata, and both need a music font. Neither is on a key or in an Alt code table: 𝄌 writes the coda in HTML.
What is the difference between D.S. and D.C.?
D.S., dal segno, sends the player back to the segno sign. D.C., da capo, sends the player back to the beginning. With al Coda either one ends with a jump to the coda; with al Fine it stops at the word Fine.
Is there a repeat sign emoji?
No music repeat sign is an emoji. The nearest are ๐, the repeat button, and ๐, the repeat single button. A musical repeat emoticon is made from characters: ๐ โชโซ ๐ with the bar lines, or |: :| on a plain keyboard.
All 32 fermatas and music signs
Start here 6
๐FermataU+1D110. Unicode's name: Musical symbol fermata. Usually printed above the note or rest it holds.
๐Musical symbol fermata belowU+1D111. The same sign upside down, for a fermata set under the note.
๐Musical symbol left repeat signU+1D106. Opens a repeated section: the music between it and ๐ is played twice.
๐Musical symbol right repeat signU+1D107. Closes the repeated section. With no ๐ before it, the repeat goes back to the beginning.
๐Repeat buttonU+1F501. An emoji, not notation: the repeat button of a music player. Unicode's own name is Clockwise rightwards and leftwards open circle arrows.
๐๐Repeat signs, a pairThe left and the right repeat sign together, to put a name or a line between.
Fermatas 7
โอCombining fermata on a dotted circleCombining fermata, U+0352, sits over the character typed before it; the dotted circle stands in for that character.
๐ฎMusical symbol double square fermataU+1D26E. The square fermata doubled. New in Unicode 18.0.
๐ฌMusical symbol double triangular fermataU+1D26C. The triangular fermata doubled. New in Unicode 18.0.
๐ฏMusical symbol Henze long fermataU+1D26F. The long one of two fermatas that Unicode names after Henze. New in Unicode 18.0.
๐ฐMusical symbol Henze short fermataU+1D270. The short one of the two Henze fermatas. New in Unicode 18.0.
๐ญMusical symbol square fermataU+1D26D. A square-shaped fermata. Some modern scores use it for a longer hold than the round one. New in Unicode 18.0.
๐ซMusical symbol triangular fermataU+1D26B. A triangle-shaped fermata. Some modern scores use it for a shorter hold than the round one. New in Unicode 18.0.
Show all 32 fermatas and music signs (19 more)
Repeat signs 7
๐Musical symbol repeat dotsU+1D108. The two dots of a repeat sign, without the bars.
๐Musical symbol repeated figure-1U+1D10D. The first of three signs Unicode has for a figure that is played again.
๐Musical symbol repeated figure-2U+1D10E. The second sign for a repeated figure.
๐Musical symbol repeated figure-3U+1D10F. The third sign for a repeated figure.
:|Repeat end, typedA colon and a bar: the end of a repeat in keyboard characters.
๐Repeat single buttonU+1F502. The same arrows with a 1 on them: repeat one item over.
|:Repeat start, typedA bar and a colon: how the start of a repeat is typed when only keyboard characters are at hand.
Segno and coda 8
โCircled plusU+2295. A maths sign, the direct sum: a cross inside a circle, where the coda's cross reaches past it. \oplus in LaTeX.
D.C.Da capo, typedDa capo, from the beginning: go back to the start of the piece.
D.S.Dal segno, typedDal segno, from the sign: go back to the segno and play on from there.
๐Musical symbol codaU+1D10C. Heads the coda, the closing section that a To Coda instruction jumps to. It looks like crosshairs and needs a music font.
๐Musical symbol da capoU+1D10A. The instruction da capo as one character. It needs a music font.
๐Musical symbol dal segnoU+1D109. The instruction dal segno as one character. It needs a music font.
๐Musical symbol segnoU+1D10B. The sign that D.S., dal segno, sends the player back to. It needs a music font; without one it is an empty box.
โPosition indicatorU+2316. Not a music sign: a mark of technical drawing, a crosshair that can pass for the coda where a music font is missing.
Look-alikes 4
โArcU+2312. Another arc, a technical sign; again there is no dot.
โฬCombining candrabindu on a dotted circleCombining candrabindu, U+0310: a cup with a dot, set over the character before it. A diacritic that looks like a small fermata below.
เคDevanagari sign candrabinduU+0901. The candrabindu of Devanagari script, a cup with a dot: a letter mark, not a music sign.
โ Upper half circleU+25E0. The arc of a fermata without its dot: a geometric shape.