Need to type these symbols directly using physical keyboard shortcuts on Windows? Use the following Alt Code chart:
Symbol
Name
Windows Alt Code
Unicode Hex
HTML Entity
«
Left-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark (Guillemet)
Alt + 171
U+00AB
«
»
Right-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark (Guillemet)
Alt + 187
U+00BB
»
“
Left Double Quotation Mark (Smart Quote)
Alt + 0147
U+201C
“
”
Right Double Quotation Mark (Smart Quote)
Alt + 0148
U+201D
”
‘
Left Single Quotation Mark
Alt + 0145
U+2018
‘
’
Right Single Quotation Mark / Apostrophe
Alt + 0146
U+2019
’
❝
Heavy Double Turned Comma Quotation Mark
Alt + 10077
U+275D
❝
❞
Heavy Double Comma Quotation Mark
Alt + 10078
U+275E
❞
International Typography & Aesthetic Quotation Marks
Standard typewriter keyboards only provide straight ASCII double quotes (") and straight single quotes ('). However, professional publishing, literary typesetting, and social media aesthetics demand authentic curved smart quotes, international guillemets, and decorative comma quotes.
Typographical Conventions by Language
English (US/UK): Employs curved double quotes: “quoted text”
French, Spanish, Italian & Russian: Traditional prose uses angle brackets called guillemets: « texte cité »
German: Begins with low double quotes and ends with high quotes: „Zitierter Text“
Aesthetic Social Media Bios: Heavy comma quotes make quotes pop: ❝ Life is a journey ❞
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Hold Alt and type 171 on the numeric keypad for the opening guillemet («), and Alt + 187 for the closing guillemet (»).
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0147 for open curly quotes (“), and Alt + 0148 for closed curly quotes (”).
Straight quotes are used for speech. The prime symbol (′ U+2032) and double prime (″ U+2033) are mathematical and geographic symbols denoting feet, inches, arcminutes, and arcseconds.