Reference

Emoji Cheat Sheet

A searchable reference for 1,870 emoji, each with its GitHub-style :shortcode:, its short name, and the tags people actually search by — grouped into the nine standard Unicode categories from smileys to flags. Pick a copy format once and click any tile to copy the emoji itself, its :shortcode: for GitHub, Slack, and Discord, the U+ code points, or the HTML numeric reference. Search by name, shortcode, keyword, or code point and the grid narrows instantly. It is fully static and runs in your browser, so nothing you type or copy is uploaded.

  • 1,870 emoji with GitHub, Slack, and Discord :shortcodes:
  • Grouped into the 9 standard categories: smileys, people, nature, food, and more
  • Copy the emoji, its shortcode, the U+ code point, or the HTML entity
  • Search by name, shortcode, keyword, or code point
  • Hover any tile for its aliases, tags, and code points
  • Fully static and offline — nothing is uploaded
Copy as
Pick a copy format, then click any emoji to copy it that way.

Smileys & Emotion

166 Faces, expressions, hearts, and emotion.

People & Body

363 People, gestures, body parts, and professions.

Animals & Nature

152 Animals, plants, flowers, and weather.

Food & Drink

133 Food, drinks, fruit, and dishware.

Travel & Places

218 Places, buildings, vehicles, and transport.

Activities

85 Sports, games, events, and hobbies.

Objects

261 Tools, tech, household, and office items.

Symbols

223 Signs, arrows, hearts, and marks.

Flags

269 National, regional, and special-purpose flags.

Overview

A reference built the way you actually reach for emoji: one clean tile each, grouped by what it is, searchable by name or shortcode, and ready to copy in whichever form your message or code needs.

  1. 01

    Shortcodes front and center

    Every tile shows the :shortcode: that GitHub, Slack, Discord, and Markdown accept, so you can drop :rocket: into a pull request or chat without leaving the page.

  2. 02

    Copy in four forms

    Pick a format once, then click any emoji to copy the glyph itself, its shortcode, the U+ code points, or the HTML numeric reference — no hunting through a system picker.

  3. 03

    Search by anything

    Type a name, a shortcode, a keyword like happy or party, or a code point in hex, and the grid narrows instantly across all nine categories.

  4. 04

    Grouped by category

    The nine standard Unicode groups — smileys, people, nature, food, travel, activities, objects, symbols, and flags — let you browse by intent and filter down to one set.

  5. 05

    Aliases and tags on hover

    Many emoji answer to several shortcodes; hover a tile to see every alias plus the searchable tags, so you can pick the name that reads best.

  6. 06

    Code points always shown

    Each tile carries the Unicode code points behind the emoji, including the multi-code-point sequences used for combined and flag emoji.

  7. 07

    Real glyph preview

    Every tile renders the actual emoji with your system font, so you see exactly how it will look before you copy it.

  8. 08

    Static and private

    The whole sheet is generated at build time from GitHub’s open emoji database and ships as static HTML, so it loads fast, works offline, and uploads nothing.

How to use

Browse by category or search, choose how you want to copy, and click a tile.

  1. 01

    Scroll the grid, which is grouped into categories from smileys and people to symbols and flags.

  2. 02

    Use the category pills to filter down to a single group, or keep them all visible.

  3. 03

    Search by emoji name, by shortcode like rocket, by a keyword, or by a hex code point.

  4. 04

    Set the copy format — emoji, shortcode, Unicode, or HTML — using the toggle.

  5. 05

    Click any tile to copy it in the chosen format; hover a tile to see its aliases, tags, and code points.

Details

A few notes on what the tiles show and how the data is organized.

  • Shortcodes match the GitHub/gemoji set, which is what Slack, Discord, and most Markdown renderers also accept.
  • Emoji are grouped by the nine top-level Unicode categories, so related symbols sit together.
  • The shortcode shown on the tile is the primary alias; the rest appear on hover.
  • Code points are shown in U+ notation, including the multi-part sequences behind flags and combined emoji.
  • The HTML format uses hexadecimal numeric references, concatenated for multi-code-point emoji.
  • Every tile renders the real glyph, so a missing image means your system font lacks that emoji.
  • Everything is rendered server-side, so search and copy work without loading a framework.

Use cases

Reaching for the right emoji comes up constantly in commits, chat, docs, and product copy.

  1. Commit and PR messages

    Grab :sparkles:, :bug:, or :recycle: for conventional, gitmoji-style commits and pull request titles.

  2. Chat and issues

    Copy the shortcode for Slack, Discord, or GitHub issues, or the glyph itself for anywhere that renders Unicode.

  3. READMEs and docs

    Drop emoji into headings, callouts, and tables to make documentation easier to scan.

  4. Product and UI copy

    Copy the literal emoji into buttons, empty states, and notifications where a shortcode would not render.

  5. Encoding-safe markup

    Use the HTML numeric reference when you need an emoji to survive an uncertain file encoding or template pipeline.

  6. Looking up a code point

    Find the U+ code points behind an emoji for use in a regex, a font check, or a data pipeline.

  7. Learning the shortcodes

    Search by keyword to discover the shortcode for an emoji you can picture but cannot name.

  8. Social and marketing text

    Copy expressive emoji into posts, changelogs, and release notes with one click.

See also

Emoji are Unicode characters, so the same lookups apply to text symbols: the HTML Entity Reference lists every HTML named entity, while the Unicode Converter escapes any character to and from its code point, and the ASCII Table lays out the ASCII and Latin-1 code table.

Best practices

A few habits keep emoji rendering correctly and accessibly.

  • Use shortcodes only where they are supported — GitHub, Slack, Discord, and many Markdown tools — and the literal emoji everywhere else.
  • Serve pages as UTF-8 so pasted emoji survive; otherwise fall back to the HTML numeric reference.
  • Do not lean on emoji to carry essential meaning, since screen readers announce them and some users disable them.
  • Remember that the same emoji looks different across platforms, so avoid ones whose meaning depends on a specific vendor’s art.
  • Keep emoji out of URLs, identifiers, and filenames, where they cause encoding and tooling problems.
  • Prefer a single, well-known shortcode in shared docs so teammates can find and reuse it.

Limitations

A cheat sheet has a couple of edges worth knowing.

  • This shows the GitHub/gemoji set of 1,870 emoji, not every skin-tone and gender variant in the full Unicode list.
  • Shortcodes are a convenience of specific platforms; plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript do not understand :names:.
  • How an emoji looks depends on the operating system and font, so the same code point can render very differently.
  • A tile that shows a blank box or two boxes means your system font is missing that emoji, not that the data is wrong.
  • Emoji sequences combine several code points; splitting them apart can produce unrelated characters.
  • This is a reference for copying, not an editor — to transform a whole block of text, use a dedicated encoder.

FAQ

Common questions about emoji, shortcodes, code points, and how to use them.

What is an emoji shortcode?

A shortcode is a colon-wrapped name like :rocket: that platforms such as GitHub, Slack, and Discord replace with the matching emoji. It lets you type an emoji from the keyboard and keep it readable in plain text. This sheet shows the shortcode on every tile and lets you copy it in one click.

How many emoji are there?

The full Unicode emoji set is larger, but much of it is skin-tone and gender variants of the same base emoji. This cheat sheet uses GitHub’s gemoji database of 1,870 distinct emoji — the practical set that shortcodes and most tools actually support.

Where do the shortcodes work?

The :shortcode: names come from the gemoji set, which GitHub, Slack, Discord, and many Markdown renderers accept. Outside those tools, use the literal emoji or, in markup, the HTML numeric reference instead — a shortcode is just text everywhere else.

Should I copy the emoji or the shortcode?

Copy the shortcode when you are writing for a platform that expands it, like a commit message or a Slack post. Copy the literal emoji when you need it to render everywhere, such as in UI text or a document served as UTF-8.

What are the U+ code points for?

Each emoji is one or more Unicode code points, shown here in U+ notation. You need them for regular expressions, font coverage checks, data pipelines, or anywhere you work with the raw character rather than its picture.

Why does an emoji look different on my device?

The code point is standard, but each platform draws its own artwork, so the same emoji looks different on Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others. Avoid emoji whose meaning relies on one vendor’s specific design.

Does this tool upload anything?

No. The whole cheat sheet is generated when the site is built and ships as static HTML, and search and copy run entirely in your browser, so nothing you type or copy leaves your device.

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