Short answer: On Windows, hold Alt and type 6 (♠), 3 (♥), 4 (♦) or 5 (♣) on the numeric keypad. In Word, type 2660 and press Alt + X for ♠. On a Mac or phone, copy the suit you need from the tool below.
Tap to copy a card suit
The four card suits — spade ♠, heart ♥, diamond ♦, club ♣ — are handy well beyond card games: suit labels, score sheets, bullet lists, dividers, bios and design flourishes. Each also has a hollow “white” version (♤ ♡ ♢ ♧). None sit on a standard keyboard, so here’s the fastest method on every platform, plus the colour and ranking details people ask about. This is part of the Stars & Hearts collection.
Quick reference — all eight suits
| Symbol | Name | Windows | Word (Alt+X) | HTML | Unicode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ♠ | Black spade | Alt + 6 or Alt + 9824 | 2660 | ♠ | U+2660 |
| ♥ | Black heart | Alt + 3 or Alt + 9829 | 2665 | ♥ | U+2665 |
| ♦ | Black diamond | Alt + 4 or Alt + 9830 | 2666 | ♦ | U+2666 |
| ♣ | Black club | Alt + 5 or Alt + 9827 | 2663 | ♣ | U+2663 |
| ♤ | White spade | Alt + 9828 | 2664 | ♤ | U+2664 |
| ♡ | White heart | Alt + 9825 | 2661 | ♡ | U+2661 |
| ♢ | White diamond | Alt + 9826 | 2662 | ♢ | U+2662 |
| ♧ | White club | Alt + 9831 | 2667 | ♧ | U+2667 |
Windows
Turn on Num Lock, hold Alt, and type the code on the numeric keypad (not the top-row numbers). The suits have short legacy codes that work almost everywhere: Alt + 6 for ♠, Alt + 3 for ♥, Alt + 4 for ♦, Alt + 5 for ♣. The full Unicode decimals (Alt + 9824 ♠, 9829 ♥, 9830 ♦, 9827 ♣) also work in Unicode-aware apps, and are the only route to the hollow white suits (9828, 9825, 9826, 9831).
No numeric keypad? Press Win + . to open the emoji and symbols panel, click the symbols tab, and pick a suit — or type its name in the search box. If an Alt code returns the wrong character, you’re on the number row — see why Alt codes don’t work.
Mac
macOS has no dedicated Option shortcut for card suits. Open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space, then search spade, heart, diamond or club and double-click to insert — the same viewer works in Pages, Word, Notes and Safari. All eight suits also sit together under the viewer’s Pictographs category. For a suit you use often, save a text replacement in System Settings → Keyboard → Text Replacements.
iPhone and Android
The default phone keyboards don’t include the plain text suits. Two routes:
- Copy them from the tool above — quickest for occasional use.
- Emoji keyboard carries the suit emoji (♠️ ♥️ ♦️ ♣️) in the symbols section. These are the coloured versions (see the colour note below), so they may not match plain text.
For repeat use, save a text replacement (iPhone: Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement; Android: Settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary) mapping a trigger like sspade to ♠.
Word, Outlook and PowerPoint
Type the Unicode hex and press Alt + X: 2660 → ♠, 2665 → ♥, 2666 → ♦, 2663 → ♣. The short Alt + 3/4/5/6 keypad codes work here too. Or go Insert → Symbol → More Symbols; in Character Map or the Symbol dialog, jump to Unicode 2660 to see all eight suits together. Note that Word 365 often defaults to the Segoe UI Emoji font, which can render the suits in colour — switch the selection to a plain text font (Arial, Calibri) if you want them monochrome.
Excel and Google Sheets
For spreadsheets, the formula route is cleanest and survives font changes: =UNICHAR(9824) gives ♠, 9829 ♥, 9830 ♦, 9827 ♣. That’s handy for suit-labelled tables or score trackers — for example a column that shows the suit next to a value. You can also paste the symbols straight into a cell. (More spreadsheet symbol tips: symbols in Google Sheets.)
Chromebook
Press Ctrl + Shift + U, release, type the hex (2660 for ♠), then press Enter or Space. Alternatively, open the ChromeOS emoji picker with Launcher + Shift + Space (or right-click → Emoji & Symbols) and search for the suit.
Linux
In most GTK and IBus-based apps, press Ctrl + Shift + U, type the hex code (2660, 2665, 2666, 2663), then press Enter or Space to commit it. If that shortcut isn’t enabled, open the Characters / gucharmap app, search the suit name, and copy it. Card suits don’t have standard Compose-key sequences, so the Unicode-entry method is the reliable one.
HTML, CSS and code
The black suits have convenient named entities: ♠ (♠), ♥ (♥), ♦ (♦) and ♣ (♣). The white suits use numeric entities — ♤ ♤, ♡ ♡, ♢ ♢, ♧ ♧. In CSS (for pseudo-element content) use the escaped code point, e.g. content:"\2660"; in JavaScript use "\u2660". The Unicode code points run from U+2660 to U+2667.
Black vs white suits, colour and ranking
A few things worth knowing:
- “Black” and “white” mean solid and outline, not colour. In Unicode, ♠ is the black (filled) spade and ♤ is the white (outline) spade. The actual colour is left to the font — in plain text, all four filled suits usually render in your text colour (normally black), even hearts and diamonds.
- Where does the red come from? The familiar red hearts/diamonds and black spades/clubs appear when you use the emoji suits (♥️ ♦️) or a colour font. If you need red in HTML, wrap the plain suit in a span and style it, e.g.
color:#c00. - Suit ranking. In games like bridge the suits rank clubs (lowest), then diamonds, hearts, spades (highest). Other games use different orders, so don’t assume one universal ranking.
- Handy reuse. The diamond ♦ is often used as a decorative bullet, and a run of suits (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣) makes a compact divider in bios and headings.
For the heart on its own — including the text-vs-emoji red-heart issue in more depth — see heart and star symbols.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Alt + 3 does nothing | Num Lock off, or you used the top-row numbers. Use the numeric keypad. |
| Laptop has no numpad | Use Win + ., or Word’s 2660 + Alt + X, or copy from above. |
| Suits appear in colour, I want plain black | You’re seeing the emoji font (e.g. Segoe UI Emoji). Switch to a text font like Arial or Calibri. |
| I want red hearts/diamonds | Use the emoji suits ♥️ ♦️, or style the text suit in CSS with color. |
| White suit ♤ won’t type with a short Alt code | The hollow suits only have Unicode codes — use Alt + 9828/9825/9826/9831 or copy them. |
| Suit shows as a box ▯ | The font lacks the glyph. Switch to Arial, Segoe UI Symbol or Times New Roman. More: symbol showing as a box. |
Frequently asked questions
How do you type card suit symbols on Windows?
Turn on Num Lock, hold Alt, and type 6 for ♠, 3 for ♥, 4 for ♦ or 5 for ♣ on the numeric keypad, then release Alt. The full Unicode codes (Alt + 9824, 9829, 9830, 9827) also work and are needed for the hollow white suits.
How do you type ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ on a Mac?
There’s no dedicated Option shortcut. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search “spade”, “heart”, “diamond” or “club”, and double-click the symbol. All eight suits are also under the viewer’s Pictographs category.
Why are all four suits the same colour in my text?
In Unicode, “black” and “white” mean solid and outline, not red and black — the colour is set by the font. In plain text the filled suits usually all show in your text colour. The familiar red hearts and diamonds come from the emoji versions (♥️ ♦️) or a colour font.
What is the difference between the black ♠ and white ♤ suits?
The “black” suits (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣) are solid/filled and the “white” suits (♤ ♡ ♢ ♧) are outlined. They’re separate Unicode characters; the black ones have short Alt codes and named HTML entities, while the white ones use Unicode codes only.
How do you type card suits in Excel or Google Sheets?
Use the formula =UNICHAR(9824) for ♠, 9829 for ♥, 9830 for ♦ and 9827 for ♣, or paste the symbols directly into a cell. The formula approach keeps them intact if the cell font changes.
What are the Unicode code points and HTML entities for the card suits?
♠ is U+2660 (♠), ♥ is U+2665 (♥), ♦ is U+2666 (♦) and ♣ is U+2663 (♣). The white suits ♤ ♡ ♢ ♧ are U+2664, U+2661, U+2662 and U+2667.
Recap
- Windows → Alt + 6 ♠, 3 ♥, 4 ♦, 5 ♣ (keypad).
- Word → 2660 then Alt + X (and 2661–2667 for the rest).
- Excel/Sheets → =UNICHAR(9824…9831).
- Mac / phone → Character Viewer, or copy from the tool above.
- Colour → text suits are monochrome; use the emoji suits or CSS for red.
Written by Igor R.. Tested on Windows 11, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, Linux, Word and Google Docs. Last updated July 2026. Symbol code points follow the Unicode Standard.