How to Find the Unicode Code Point for Any Emoji

What Is a Unicode Code Point?

Every emoji is a character in the Unicode standard, and every Unicode character has a unique identifier called a code point — a number written in hexadecimal with the prefix U+. For example:

• 🔥 is U+1F525 (FIRE)
• ❤️ is U+2764 U+FE0F (HEAVY BLACK HEART + VARIATION SELECTOR-16)
• 👩‍💻 is U+1F469 U+200D U+1F4BB (WOMAN + ZWJ영폭 결합자 (ZWJ)
  여러 이모지를 하나의 합성 이모지로 결합하는 데 사용되는 보이지 않는 유니코드 문자(U+200D). + LAPTOP)

Knowing an emoji's code point lets you use it in HTML entities (🔥), in programming languages (\u{1F525} in JavaScript, "\U0001F525" in Python), and helps you understand how multi-component emoji are structured.

This guide shows every method for finding the code point of any emoji.

Method 1: EmojiFYI (Fastest)

EmojiFYI displays every emoji's Unicode code point directly on its detail page.

1. Go to emojifyi.com and search for the emoji by name (e.g., "fire", "heart", "thumbs up")
2. Click the emoji to open its detail page
3. The code point(s) are listed in the Unicode section — for example: U+1F525
4. For complex sequences, all component code points are listed in order

You can also use EmojiFYI's Sequence Analyzer to paste any emoji and instantly see a breakdown of every code point in the sequence, including ZWJ characters, variation selectors, and skin tone modifiers.

Method 2: Browser Developer Tools

Any modern browser's developer console can extract code points from an emoji you paste in.

In Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari

1. Open DevTools (F12 or Ctrl + Shift + I / Command + Option + I)
2. Go to the Console tab
3. Paste this JavaScript and replace the emoji:

// Get all code points for an emoji
function getCodePoints(emoji) {
  return [...emoji].map(char =>
    "U+" + char.codePointAt(0).toString(16).toUpperCase().padStart(4, "0")
  ).join(" ")
}

getCodePoints("🔥")   // "U+1F525"
getCodePoints("❤️")   // "U+2764 U+FE0F"
getCodePoints("👩‍💻")  // "U+1F469 U+200D U+1F4BB"
getCodePoints("👍🏽")  // "U+1F44D U+1F3FD"

This handles the spread-based iteration which correctly separates surrogate pairs into their actual code points.

Using codePointAt Directly

const emoji = "🔥"
console.log(emoji.codePointAt(0).toString(16).toUpperCase())  // "1F525"
console.log("U+" + emoji.codePointAt(0).toString(16).toUpperCase())  // "U+1F525"

Method 3: Python

Python makes emoji code point inspection straightforward:

def get_code_points(emoji: str) -> list[str]:
    return [f"U+{ord(char):04X}" for char in emoji]

# Examples
print(get_code_points("🔥"))    # ['U+1F525']
print(get_code_points("❤️"))    # ['U+2764', 'U+FE0F']
print(get_code_points("👩‍💻"))  # ['U+1F469', 'U+200D', 'U+1F4BB']
print(get_code_points("👍🏽"))   # ['U+1F44D', 'U+1F3FD']

Getting the Official Unicode Name

Python's unicodedata module can retrieve the official Unicode character name:

import unicodedata

def emoji_info(emoji: str) -> None:
    for char in emoji:
        code_point = f"U+{ord(char):04X}"
        try:
            name = unicodedata.name(char)
        except ValueError:
            name = "(no name — control/invisible character)"
        print(f"{code_point}: {name}")

emoji_info("🔥")
# U+1F525: FIRE

emoji_info("👩‍💻")
# U+1F469: WOMAN
# U+200D: ZERO WIDTH JOINER
# U+1F4BB: PERSONAL COMPUTER

emoji_info("👍🏽")
# U+1F44D: THUMBS UP SIGN
# U+1F3FD: EMOJI MODIFIER FITZPATRICK TYPE-4

Method 4: The Unicode Character Database

The Unicode Consortium maintains the authoritative source for all emoji data.

emoji-test.txtemoji-test.txt
모든 이모지 시퀀스의 자격 상태, 코드 포인트, CLDR 이름을 나열하는 유니코드 공식 파일.

The file emoji-test.txt lists all standard emoji with their code points:

https://unicode.org/Public/emoji/latest/emoji-test.txt

Open this file and search for your emoji's name. Each line looks like:

1F525         ; fully-qualified     # 🔥 E1.0 fire
1F469 200D 1F4BB ; fully-qualified  # 👩‍💻 E4.0 woman technologist
1F44D 1F3FD   ; fully-qualified     # 👍🏽 E1.0 thumbs up: medium skin tone

The code points are listed in the first column, separated by spaces for multi-codepoint sequences.

Unicode Character Search

The Unicode Consortium also provides a web-based character search at:

https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl

And the broader character database at:

https://unicode.org/charts/

Method 5: macOS Character Viewer

On macOS, the built-in Character Viewer shows code points directly:

1. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer
2. Click the emoji you want
3. Click the info icon (ⓘ) at the top right of the viewer
4. Expand the detail view — it shows the Unicode name and code point

For multi-codepoint sequences like ZWJ families, the Character Viewer may only show the base character's code point. Use the Sequence Analyzer or Python for complete multi-codepoint sequences.

Method 6: Windows Character Map

On Windows, the Character Map app (charmap.exe) shows code points:

1. Press Windows + R, type charmap, press Enter
2. Set the font to Segoe UI Emoji
3. Find your emoji
4. The status bar at the bottom shows the Unicode code point when you click an emoji

For the Windows emoji picker (Windows + .), hovering over an emoji shows its name, but not the code point — use the browser console method for that.

Method 7: Linux unicode Command

On Linux, the unicode command-line tool looks up code points by character or name:

# Install on Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install unicode

# Look up by pasting the emoji character
unicode 🔥

# Output:
# U+1F525 FIRE
# UTF-8UTF-8
문자당 1~4바이트를 사용하는 가변 너비 유니코드 인코딩으로, 웹의 98% 이상에서 사용됩니다.: f0 9f 94 a5  UTF-16BE: d83d dd25  Decimal: 🔥
# 🔥

Understanding What the Code Points Mean

Single Code Point Emojis

Most basic emojis are a single code point:

🔥 = U+1F525
😀 = U+1F600
🐍 = U+1F40D

Variation Selectors

Many emojis that look like symbols have two code points — the base character and a variation selector that forces emoji (color) rendering:

❤️ = U+2764 (HEAVY BLACK HEART) + U+FE0F (VARIATION SELECTOR-16)
☎️ = U+260E (BLACK TELEPHONE)   + U+FE0F
✈️ = U+2708 (AIRPLANE)          + U+FE0F

Without U+FE0F, these characters may render as monochrome text symbols. The variation selector ensures they display as color emoji.

Skin Tone Modifiers

Skin tone modifiers (Fitzpatrick scale) are appended to a base emoji:

👍     = U+1F44D (base thumbs up)
👍🏻   = U+1F44D + U+1F3FB (light skin tone)
👍🏼   = U+1F44D + U+1F3FC (medium-light skin tone)
👍🏽   = U+1F44D + U+1F3FD (medium skin tone)
👍🏾   = U+1F44D + U+1F3FE (medium-dark skin tone)
👍🏿   = U+1F44D + U+1F3FF (dark skin tone)

ZWJ Sequences

Zero Width Joiner (U+200D) joins multiple emojis into a single composed glyph:

👩‍💻 = U+1F469 (WOMAN) + U+200D (ZWJ) + U+1F4BB (LAPTOP)
❤️‍🔥 = U+2764 + U+FE0F + U+200D (ZWJ) + U+1F525 (FIRE)
🏳️‍🌈 = U+1F3F3 + U+FE0F + U+200D (ZWJ) + U+1F308 (RAINBOW)

Quick Reference: Methods by Use Case

Explore More on EmojiFYI

• Use the Sequence Analyzer to paste any emoji and see all its code points instantly
• Browse emojis by category and copy their characters with the Emoji Keyboard
• Learn about variation selectors, ZWJ, and skin tone modifiers in the Glossary
• Search for any emoji by name or code point at EmojiFYI Search