0x241B

0x241B, in Unicode written as U+241B and named SYMBOL FOR ESCAPE, is a code point in the Control Pictures block. It provides a visible representation of the escape (ESC) control character, which in ASCII is 27 and historically used to initiate control sequences in terminals and printers. The Control Pictures block (range U+2400 to U+243F) exists to render common C0 control characters as glyphs for documentation, teaching, and debugging; U+241B is one of these symbols and is commonly displayed as ␛.

In practice, 0x241B is not a character you would typically print in ordinary text. Instead, it serves as a visual aid in technical contexts to indicate the presence of an ESC character within a data stream, documentation, or debugging output. Its canonical reference is the Unicode code point U+241B; in HTML, it can be encoded as a numeric character reference such as ␛.

Rendering of the SYMBOL FOR ESCAPE depends on font support. Some fonts include the glyph for U+241B, while others may substitute a placeholder or omit it entirely. As part of the Unicode standard, the symbol has defined properties and can be stored and transferred in text like other assigned characters, without implying the actual ESC control code is present in the surrounding data.

Related symbols in the same block include U+2409 SYMBOL FOR HORIZONTAL TAB and U+240D SYMBOL FOR CARRIAGE RETURN, which similarly render other control characters as visible glyphs for reference and analysis.