Cent symbol

Click the cent symbol below to copy it, then paste it into any price, label or note. The sign ¢ stands for one cent — a hundredth of a dollar, a euro, and dozens of other currencies — and it does a job no other character does: it writes small money in two strokes. This page gives you the sign, ready-made price amounts, the rule for where it goes (after the number, not before), and the typing shortcuts for the keyboard that left it off.

Fastest choice: the card above copies ¢ (U+00A2), the standard cent sign. The grid adds its fullwidth twin and the price amounts people copy most.

Copy and paste cent symbols and price amounts

The plural everyone types — the cents symbol — is the same single sign: English writes 25¢, never ¢¢. The fullwidth ￠ is a legacy East-Asian typesetting form kept here for completeness; the amount cards copy complete prices, ready to drop into a menu, listing or flyer.

What is a cent, exactly?

A cent is the hundredth part of a currency unit — from Latin centum, a hundred. The US and Canadian dollars, the euro, the Australian, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong dollars, the South African rand and many more are all divided into 100 cents, and ¢ is their shared small-money sign. That is why the same character serves a New York price tag (99¢) and a European one (50¢ for fifty euro cents) without changing shape.

¢, c, or $0.99 — which should you write?

¢ — the symbol. Compact and unambiguous, standard in retail, menus, price lists and advertising: 99¢, 2 for 50¢. One rule matters: the sign goes after the number — 99¢, never ¢99 — the mirror image of the dollar sign.
c — the letter. An informal stand-in (25c) seen in classifieds and handwriting. It works, but it can be misread and looks unfinished in print.
$0.99 — the decimal form. The choice for formal finance, invoices, banking and accounting, where the decimal notation leaves nothing to interpret. Everyday rule: ¢ for display prices, $0.99 for documents.

The key the typewriters had and computers dropped

On mechanical typewriters, ¢ sat on a real key — small change was everyday writing. Computer keyboards dropped it to save space, which is the only reason this page exists: the sign never fell out of use (US prices still end in .99 everywhere), it just lost its key. The shortcuts below put it back.

How to type the cent sign — the short version

Windows: hold Alt and type 0162 on the numeric keypad (an older code, Alt + 155, works in some apps).
Mac (US layout): Option + 4 — the same key as $, which makes it easy to remember. Other layouts: use the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) and search “cent”.
Word: type 00A2 then Alt + X.
Excel: the formula =CHAR(162) returns ¢.
Linux: Ctrl + Shift + U, then a2, then Enter.
Phone: keyboards vary — copying ¢ from the top of this page always works.

Cent symbol codes

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Frequently asked questions

How do you write cent in symbol form?

With the cent sign: ¢ after the number — 1¢, 25¢, 99¢. To write the word cent in symbol form is simply to replace the word with ¢; there is no separate plural form, so amounts of more than one cent use the same sign once.

Does the cent sign go before or after the number?

After: 99¢. This is the opposite of the dollar, pound and euro signs, which lead ($5, £5, €5). A price written ¢99 is simply a mistake.

What is the difference between ¢ and c?

¢ is the dedicated cent sign (U+00A2); c is just the letter pressed into service informally. In anything published — menus, shops, listings — the real sign reads as more careful and cannot be confused with a stray letter.

Why is there no cent key on my keyboard?

There used to be: typewriters carried ¢. Computer keyboards dropped it, along with several other commercial symbols, and it never returned — even though prices in cents are everywhere. Alt + 0162 (Windows) or Option + 4 (Mac) restores it.

Do other currencies use the cent sign?

Yes — every currency divided into 100 cents shares it: the euro, the Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong dollars, the South African rand (c in local style guides varies), and historically several Latin American currencies for their centavos and cêntimos.