Keyboard Enter/Return Key Symbol — a Survey

Xah Lee, 2012-09-19

Some Unicode symbols used to represent the Enter ↵ key on keyboards:

• ↵ DOWNWARDS ARROW WITH CORNER LEFTWARDS
• ⏎ RETURN SYMBOL
• ↩ LEFTWARDS ARROW WITH HOOK
• ⌤ UP ARROWHEAD BETWEEN TWO HORIZONTAL BARS (old-name: ENTER KEY)

I took a quick survey of keyboards to see what graphics symbol they use, or none.

Sharp Corner Return Arrow

All Microsoft keyboards uses ↵ a thin turned arrow with a sharp 90° corner. This is the most popular graphic symbol used. If a keyboard use a return arrow symbol, it's usually with sharp 90° corner like this. Microsoft has a long horizontal line, but others may not. Some uses a big filled arrow-head.

Examples of keyboards using return arrow with sharp corner:

• All Microsoft's keyboards. 〔☛ Microsoft Keyboards Gallery〕
• All Logitech's gaming keyboards. 〔☛ Gaming Keyboards Gallery〕 (Logitech's non-gaming keyboards do not usually have a graphic symbol for the Enter key.)
• Gaming Keyboards: Corsair K60, K90
• Kinesis Contoured Keyboard
• Truly Ergonomic Keyboard
• Filco Majestouch keyboards, Cooler Master, HP USB mini keyboard … 〔☛ Keyboards without Numeric Keypad〕
• Sun Microsystem Type 6 Keyboard
• KBC Poker Keyboard, Ducky Keyboard
• Northgate Omnikey Evolution Ergonomic Keyboard 〔☛ Exotic Ergonomic Keyboards〕
• IBM Model M keyboard

Outlined Return Arrow

The ⏎ RETURN SYMBOL, with outline graphics, is used on some, but relatively rare. Including μTRON Keyboard.

Hooked Return Arrow

↩ LEFTWARDS ARROW WITH HOOK

Apple Keyboards use this. Apple Keyboards usually do not have a glyph for the Enter key. But for European versions, they do. On euro versions, keys such as {home/end, page up/down, return/enter, delete, tab, shift}, are all using a graphic symbol, and no text. 〔☛ Apple Keyboard Gallery〕