By Igor R. · Updated September 2026 Tested on Windows 11, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, Linux, Word, Excel and Google Docs. Symbol code points follow the Unicode Standard.
Short answer: Four Gulf and Indian Ocean currencies now have dedicated Unicode signs — the Saudi riyal in Unicode 17.0, then the rufiyaa, UAE dirham and Omani rial in Unicode 18.0. Type them by code point: 20C1 (Saudi riyal), 20C2 (rufiyaa), 20C3 (UAE dirham), 20C4 (Omani rial), then Alt + X in Word, or Unicode Hex Input on a Mac. Typing them is the easy part; most fonts don’t draw them yet, so you’ll often see an empty box until your device updates.
Tap to copy
Pasted a symbol and not sure what it is? Drop it into the Symbol Identifier and it’ll name the character and give you the Windows, Mac and HTML method.
What changed
The Unicode Consortium published Version 18.0 on 16 September 2026, adding 13,007 characters and bringing the total to 172,808. Three of those characters are currency signs:
- U+20C2 RUFIYAA SIGN — Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR)
- U+20C3 UAE DIRHAM SIGN — United Arab Emirates dirham (AED)
- U+20C4 OMANI RIAL SIGN — Omani rial (OMR)
They join U+20C1 SAUDI RIYAL SIGN, which arrived one version earlier in Unicode 17.0 in September 2025. Each of the four was approved by its own central bank well before encoding — the Saudi symbol by royal directive in February 2025, the Emirati one by the Central Bank of the UAE in March 2025 — and each spent the gap being pasted around as an image or a hacked-in font file, because there was no standard code point to type.
Now there is. All four live in the Currency Symbols block, the same neighbourhood as $, € and ₹. For the full picture of how encoding works, see what Unicode actually is.
Quick reference
| Symbol | Name | Code point | Word | Mac | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Saudi riyal sign | U+20C1 | type 20C1, press Alt + X | Hex Input 20C1 | ⃁ |
| | Rufiyaa sign | U+20C2 | type 20C2, press Alt + X | Hex Input 20C2 | ⃂ |
| | UAE dirham sign | U+20C3 | type 20C3, press Alt + X | Hex Input 20C3 | ⃃ |
| | Omani rial sign | U+20C4 | type 20C4, press Alt + X | Hex Input 20C4 | ⃄ |
| ﷼ | Rial sign (legacy, not the new one) | U+FDFC | type FDFC, press Alt + X | Hex Input FDFC | ﷼ |
None of these have an Alt code. The classic Alt + numpad codes only go up to 255; outside Word, copy the character or pull it from Character Map.
Why it shows as a box
This is the part every other page skips. A Unicode release assigns a number to a character. It does not put a picture in your fonts. Your device draws a glyph only when a font on that device contains one for that code point, and font vendors ship on their own schedule — usually months after the standard, sometimes a year.
So right now the four signs behave like this:
- The character is in your document, your database and your clipboard. Copying, searching and sorting all work.
- The glyph is missing, so you see an empty rectangle —
.notdef, the tofu box. - Update the operating system (or install a font that covers the character) and the same text starts rendering correctly. Nothing about the file changes.
That’s the whole story behind symbols showing as boxes, and it’s why the riyal sign still renders inconsistently a year after encoding.
Windows
- In Word: type the four-digit code — 20C1 — then press Alt + X. The code flips to the character. Press Alt + X again to flip it back.
- Everywhere else: Windows key + R, run
charmap, tick Advanced view, set Go to Unicode to20C1, then Select → Copy. - Or just tap the key above and paste.
There is no Alt code for these characters. Windows Alt + numpad codes are defined up to 255, and decimal values above that only convert in a handful of Unicode-aware editors — Microsoft’s own guidance sends you to hex plus Alt + X instead. Alt + X is a Word feature, not a Windows shortcut: Microsoft documents that some Office apps, PowerPoint among them, can’t convert Unicode codes at all, and it won’t work in a browser text field either. The full breakdown is in alt codes vs Unicode vs HTML.
Mac
macOS has no Option shortcut for any of these four — there is no verified combination, and inventing one would just waste your time. Two real routes:
- Unicode Hex Input. Go to System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → Edit → + → Others → Unicode Hex Input. Switch to it in the menu bar, hold Option and type 20C1. This works for any character in the Basic Multilingual Plane, which covers all four signs.
- Character Viewer. Control + Command + Space, then search by Unicode name or code point. You may well find the code point before any installed font can draw it — in that case it shows as a missing-character box in the picker, and inserts correctly anyway.
iPhone and Android
No phone keyboard has these keys yet, and there’s no code-point entry on either platform. Two workarounds:
- Copy it once, then make a shortcut. iOS: Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement, paste the symbol as the Phrase, set a Shortcut like
sarx. Android (Gboard): Settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary, add the symbol with a shortcut word. - Paste from this page. Tap any key in the widget above, then paste where you need it.
The UAE’s central bank has said it intends the dirham sign to eventually replace the caret on the number-6 key of Emirati keyboard layouts. That’s a stated plan, not something shipping on devices today.
Linux
Use the IBus hex sequence: Ctrl + Shift + U, type 20c1, then press Enter or Space. That’s the sequence GNOME documents, and GTK applications accept it directly. Where it isn’t supported, use the Characters app and copy from there. Full detail in typing symbols on Linux.
Word, Excel and Google Docs
- Word: Alt + X as above, or Insert → Symbol → More Symbols, set Font to (normal text), subset Currency Symbols, and enter the code in the Character code box. See symbols in Word.
- Excel:
=UNICHAR(8385)returns the riyal sign; 8386, 8387 and 8388 give the other three. For a whole column, build a custom number format instead of typing the character into every cell — symbols in Excel covers the syntax. - Google Docs: Insert → Special characters, then paste
20C1into the search box. Docs searches by code point as well as by name. More in symbols in Google Docs.
HTML, CSS and code
In HTML, use the numeric reference — there is no named entity for any of the four:
html
<p>Total: ⃁1,250.00</p> <!-- Saudi riyal -->
<p>Total: ⃃1,250.00</p> <!-- UAE dirham -->In CSS and JavaScript, escape them as \20C1 and '\u20C1' respectively.
If you’re shipping a product before your users’ devices catch up, load a web font that covers the code point and scope it to the price:
css
@font-face{
font-family:'NewCurrency';
src:url('newcurrency.woff2') format('woff2');
unicode-range:U+20C1-20C4; /* only these four fall back to it */
}
.price{font-family:'NewCurrency', system-ui, sans-serif;}One rule worth holding to: store the real code point. Several stopgap solutions floating around map the symbol onto a private-use code point like U+E900, or onto the letters SAR with a font that draws the third letter as a symbol. Both render fine and both corrupt your data — search, copy-paste, screen readers and every downstream system see a private-use character or the wrong letters. Encode U+20C1 and let the font be the thing you swap out later.
Don’t confuse with ﷼
There’s an older character, U+FDFC RIAL SIGN (﷼), that people reach for when the new sign won’t render. It is not the new Saudi sign. It was added in Unicode 3.2 back in 2002 as a compatibility character for an Iranian standard, and it decomposes to the Persian spelling ریال — which is why it draws as joined Arabic script rather than as a geometric mark. Unicode’s chart entry for U+20C1 points across to it specifically to keep the two apart. Even in Persian, the word is normally written out in full rather than set as this ligature.
The Arabic abbreviations still in daily use are also not symbols in the Unicode sense: ر.س (Saudi), د.إ (Emirati), ر.ع. (Omani) are just letter sequences with full stops. They’ll keep working everywhere, which is exactly why they’re a sensible fallback. If you type Arabic regularly, typing in Arabic covers the layouts.
What to use until fonts catch up
On anything that has to be readable by a stranger — an invoice, a quote, a contract — lead with the ISO 4217 code: SAR, AED, OMR, MVR. A code renders on every device ever made and removes the ambiguity that symbols carry anyway. SAR 1,250.00 is never wrong; a box where a symbol should be is a support ticket.
Use the new signs in body text, product pages and design work where you control the font, and pair them with the code the first time an amount appears. Invoice currency symbols covers the placement and formatting conventions, and world currency symbols has the full country-by-country table.
Accessibility
Screen readers announce characters by their Unicode name, so U+20C3 will be read as “UAE dirham sign” once the reader’s character database is updated — and as nothing at all, or as “unknown character”, before that. Until support settles, write the currency in words or as an ISO code on first use and treat the symbol as decoration afterwards. How screen readers pronounce symbols explains the pattern.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Symbol shows as an empty box | Your font has no glyph yet. Update the OS, or install a font covering U+20C1–U+20C4. The character itself is fine. |
| Shows correctly in Word, box on the website | Word falls back to another font automatically; a website uses only what CSS specifies. Add a web font with unicode-range. |
| Alt + X does nothing | You’re not in Word. It isn’t a Windows-wide shortcut — use Character Map or copy from above. |
| Looking for an Alt code | There isn’t one. Alt + numpad codes stop at 255; these characters are far above that. |
| Character Viewer can’t find it on Mac | The Viewer lists what fonts can draw. Use Unicode Hex Input instead; it inserts the code point regardless. |
| Symbol turns into a different glyph when pasted | You copied a private-use character (U+E900) from a site using a font hack, not the real sign. Copy from the widget above. |
| Two symbols look similar in a document | Check the code point with the Symbol Identifier — ﷼ U+FDFC is the legacy rial sign, not the new one. |
Recap
| If you’re… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Writing in Word | 20C1 then Alt + X |
| In any other Windows app | Copy from above, or Character Map |
| In Excel | =UNICHAR(8385) |
| On a Mac | Unicode Hex Input, Option + 20C1 |
| On a phone | Copy from above, save a text replacement |
| Building a website | ⃁ plus a unicode-range web font |
| Sending an invoice | Use SAR / AED / OMR / MVR |
Frequently asked questions
Why does the new currency symbol show as a box?
Unicode assigned the character a number, but your fonts don’t contain a drawing for it yet. The character is stored correctly and will render as soon as your operating system or font updates — nothing in your file needs changing.
When was the UAE dirham symbol added to Unicode?
It was encoded as U+20C3 UAE DIRHAM SIGN in Unicode 18.0, published on 16 September 2026, alongside U+20C4 OMANI RIAL SIGN and U+20C2 RUFIYAA SIGN.
Is the Saudi riyal symbol the same as ﷼?
No. ﷼ is U+FDFC RIAL SIGN, a compatibility character added in 2002 for an Iranian standard, based on the Persian spelling of “rial”. The new Saudi sign is U+20C1, encoded in Unicode 17.0 in September 2025, and looks nothing like it.
How do I type the Saudi riyal symbol on Windows?
In Word, type 20C1 and press Alt + X. There’s no Alt code — Windows Alt + numpad codes only run to 255 — so everywhere else, copy it from a page like this one or pull it out of Character Map.
Is there a Mac keyboard shortcut for these symbols?
There’s no Option shortcut. Enable Unicode Hex Input in Keyboard settings, then hold Option and type the four-digit code — 20C1, 20C2, 20C3 or 20C4.
Should I use the new symbol or the ISO code on an invoice?
Use the ISO code — SAR, AED, OMR or MVR — anywhere the reader’s device is out of your control. Codes render everywhere and remove currency ambiguity. Save the symbol for contexts where you control the font.
Written by Igor R. Tested on Windows 11, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, Linux, Word, Excel and Google Docs. Last updated September 2026. Symbol code points follow the Unicode Standard.