Shapecatcher

Shapecatcher

Shapecatcher is a free online utility for looking up Unicode characters and symbols by drawing them. It allows users to handwrite or draw different characters and then suggests possible matches. It's useful for finding symbols, emoji, dingbats, and other non-standard charact
Shapecatcher image
unicode emoji dingbats symbols characters handwriting drawing

Shapecatcher: Online Utility for Drawing Unicode Characters

Free online tool for finding Unicode characters and symbols by drawing them, suggesting possible matches for symbols, emoji, dingbats, and more.

What is Shapecatcher?

Shapecatcher is a handy online utility for looking up Unicode characters and symbols by drawing the approximate shape. Developed and maintained by Shape Arts LLC, it provides a simple yet powerful way for users to search for characters that may be difficult to find using traditional text search.

Here's how Shapecatcher works: A user navigates to the Shapecatcher website and is presented with a large blank box for drawing. Using a mouse, touchpad, or touchscreen, the user draws the approximate shape of the character they are trying to find. As they draw, Shapecatcher searches through thousands of Unicode characters and presents a list of possible matches.

Some of the things that make Shapecatcher useful:

  • Looks through a wide variety of Unicode characters, including letters and symbols from many different languages, dingbats, emoji, math symbols, and more.
  • Drawing interface makes it easy to search by visual shape rather than exact text match.
  • Helpful for finding characters like emoji, math symbols, dingbats, or symbols from languages different than your own.
  • Free to use, no account required.

So in summary, Shapecatcher is an online Unicode lookup tool that accepts handwritten/drawn input and suggests possible character matches. With its extensive database and drawing input method, it's especially useful for finding symbols, emoji, and other non-standard characters when you don't know their exact names or values.

Shapecatcher Features

Features

  1. Handwrite or draw characters to find matches
  2. Suggest possible Unicode character matches
  3. Search for symbols, emoji, dingbats, and other non-standard characters
  4. Free online utility

Pricing

  • Free

Pros

Easy to use interface for finding characters

Useful for finding obscure or non-standard characters

No installation required, accessible from any device with a web browser

Cons

Limited to finding character matches, no other editing or conversion features

Accuracy of character matching may vary depending on the input


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