About Superscript & Subscript Symbols
What is this page?
True superscript and subscript characters: ² and ³ for squares and cubes, the full run of raised digits ⁰-⁹, and subscripts ₀-₉ for chemical formulas. Unlike the superscript button in a word processor, these are standalone Unicode characters, so m² stays m² even in plain-text fields like YouTube titles, tweets, and spreadsheet cells.
How to Use It
- Click a digit. It is copied to your clipboard and appended to the text pad.
- Compose your expression. Build things like x² + y³ or H₂O directly in the pad.
- Paste it anywhere. The formatting is part of the character, so it cannot be stripped.
Use Cases
- Area and volume units: m², cm³, km²
- Math expressions in plain text: x², 10⁶
- Chemistry formulas: H₂O, CO₂, C₆H₁₂O₆
- Footnote markers and ordinal notation in bios and titles
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I type ² on my keyboard?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0178 on the number pad (0179 gives ³). Other digits have no Alt codes, and Macs have no default shortcut at all, so for anything beyond squared and cubed the practical answer is copying from this page.
What is the difference between these and my word processor's superscript button?
The superscript button applies formatting to a normal digit, and that formatting vanishes the moment the text lands somewhere plain, like a chat, a form field, or a filename. These characters are superscript by identity, so 10⁶ survives every copy and paste intact.
Why do ¹, ², ³ look slightly different from ⁴-⁹ in some fonts?
The first three came from the old Latin-1 encoding decades before the rest joined Unicode, so some fonts draw them with slightly different size or weight than ⁴ through ⁹. In most modern fonts the difference is barely visible, but if you need a perfectly uniform row, check how your target font renders them.
How do I write H₂O with real subscripts?
Click the subscript ₂ here and paste it between H and O. The subscript digits ₀-₉ work the same way as the superscripts: they are independent characters, so chemical formulas keep their form in plain-text contexts like YouTube comments and spreadsheet cells.
Will these characters work in Excel and Google Sheets?
Yes, and they are often the only clean way to get m² into a cell, since spreadsheet cells don't support partial-cell formatting through normal means. They also survive CSV exports, chart labels, and column headers without any special handling.