How to Make a Butterfly on the Keyboard

The butterfly is a favorite computer graphic.

Since the first days of Internet text chat, users have come up with creative ways to show their emotions or display designs, using only the keys on the computer keyboard. When you include extra characters from the Windows Character Map or Unicode symbols, which are available on all computers, you can extend the simple key emoticons to more elaborate designs. Some of the more complicated graphics only display correctly in certain word- or text-processing programs.

Simple Butterfly

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Step 1

Press "Shift" and "]" together followed by "Shift" and "0" (zero) on the main keypad to create the left wing.

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Step 2

Press the "i" key for the butterfly's body.

Step 3

Press "Shift" and "9" together on the main keypad followed by "Shift" and "[" to make the right wing. The final butterfly will look like this: })i({

Unicode Butterfly in Word

Step 1

Open a new document in Microsoft Word. Word provides shortcut access to Unicode.

Step 2

Place your cursor where you want the butterfly, and type the following codes, without quotes: "01B8" then press the "Alt" and "X" keys together to create the left wing, "04DC" then "Alt" and "X" together for the body, "01B7" then "Alt" and "X" together for the right wing.

Step 3

Copy and paste your butterfly into other applications such as Facebook.

Character Map Butterfly

Step 1

Press "Start" on a Windows computer and type "character map" -- without quotes -- into the search box. Click on "Character Map" to open it.

Step 2

Click on the "Font:" drop-down menu at the top of the window and select "Arial Unicode MS." Check the "Advanced view" box below the symbols to open further options.

Step 3

Click on the "Character set:" drop-down arrow to select "Unicode." Click on the "Group by:" drop-down menu to select "Unicode Subrange" and select "Latin" from the list of options.

Step 4

Type "ezh" without quotes in the search box at the bottom of the window and click "Search." The first symbol in the row is the butterfly's left wing, and the second symbol is its right wing.

Step 5

Click on the first symbol, then click "Select." Repeat for the second symbol. Both symbols display in the "Characters to copy" box below the chart.

Step 6

Click the "Reset" button to clear the search. Type "diaeresis" without quotes into the search box and click "Search."

Step 7

Place your cursor between the two symbols in the "Characters to copy" box. Click on the eighth character from the left, which looks like a lower case "i" with two dots above it. Click "Select" and the full butterfly displays in the "Characters to copy" box. Click "Copy" to copy the completed butterfly to your clipboard, and paste it into a text editor that displays Unicode, such as Notepad.