Section sign

The section sign (§, Unicode U+00A7, HTML entity §), also called the "double S", "sectional symbol" or signum sectionis, is a typographical character used mainly to refer to a particular section of a document, such as a legal code. It is frequently used along with the pilcrow (¶), or paragraph sign. When duplicated, as §§, it is read as the plural "sections" (§§ 13–21), much as "pp." (pages) is the plural of "p." (short for the Latin word pagina, meaning page). The likely origin of the section sign is the digraph formed by the combination of two S'es (from the Latin signum sectionis).

Like the dagger (†) and double dagger (‡), it is also sometimes used to link to a footnote where the asterisk (*) is already in use on a given page; however, these usages are declining in favor of numbered footnotes, usually linked by a superscripted and/or square bracketed number.

Typing character

• In Unicode, it is encoded U+00A7 § SECTION SIGN (§)
• Emacs: C-x 8 S
• HTML: §
• Mac OS CSA (Canadian French) Keyboard layout: Option + Shift + S.
• Mac OS U.S. Keyboard layout: Option + 6. U.S. Extended Keyboard layout: Option + 5.
• Mac OS U.K. Keyboard layout: § key.
• TeX: \S
• US-International keyboard layout and UK-International keyboard layout: AltGr + Shift + S
• Vim, in insert mode: Ctrl + K, SE; Ctrl + V, 167
• Windows Alt code: Alt + 0167; Alt + 21; Alt + 31509; Alt + 333333; Alt + 789; (on numeric keypad);
• X Window System, with a Compose Key: Compose + s + o, or Compose + ! + s

Other uses

A modified version of the section sign is used throughout the Sims series of computer games, as the symbol to the game's fictitious currency, the simoleon.

See also

• Scilicet