Character Alif
About this character
The character ا is known as Character Alif and carries the Unicode code point U+0627, which is 1575 in decimal. It belongs to the Arabic block (U+0600–U+06FF), which gathers the Arabic letters, their contextual forms and the diacritical marks (harakat).
In memory, ا takes 2 bytes in UTF-8 (0xD8 0xA7) and 1 in UTF-16 (0x0627). That difference is why badly configured forms or databases garble this character: they assume one byte per character.
How to type ا
| System | What to do |
|---|---|
| Windows | In Word or WordPad, type 0627 and press Alt + X to turn the code into the character. |
| macOS | On a Mac, open the Character Viewer with Ctrl + ⌘ + Space and search for “Character Alif”. |
| Linux | On Linux (GTK), type Ctrl + ⇧ + U, 0627 then press Enter. |
| HTML / Web | In an HTML page, write ا. Use \0627 in CSS, \u0627 in JavaScript and \u0627 in Python. |
| On this site | The simplest route is the Copy button above: the character goes straight to your clipboard, ready to paste anywhere. |
Keyboards that include ا
This character sits directly on the following ClavierVirtuel layouts, where you can click it with the mouse:
Codes and encodings
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Code point | U+0627 |
| Unicode block | Arabic (U+0600–U+06FF) |
| Decimal | 1575 |
| Hexadecimal | 0x0627 |
| Octal | 03047 |
| Binary | 11000100111 |
| UTF-8 bytes | 0xD8 0xA7 |
| UTF-16 units | 0x0627 |
| Named HTML entity | None |
| Decimal HTML entity | ا |
| Hex HTML entity | ا |
| CSS escape | \0627 |
| JavaScript escape | \u0627 |
| Python escape | \u0627 |
| URL encoding | %D8%A7 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the Unicode code for ا?
Its code point is U+0627, which is 1575 in decimal and 03047 in octal. In HTML you can write it as ا or ا.
Why does ا show up as a box or a question mark?
An empty box means the font has no glyph for U+0627. The character is still in the text: switching to a font that covers the block (Noto, DejaVu or Segoe UI Symbol) makes it appear.
Can I use ا in a filename, a URL or a password?
In a URL it must be encoded as %D8%A7. Modern filesystems accept it, though it is still risky when moving files between systems. For passwords, some forms reject non-ASCII characters outright.