Copy the shrug emoji and emoticon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is a kaomoji made of nine Unicode characters: two macrons (¯) for the raised hands, a backslash and a slash with underscores for the arms, parentheses for the face and the katakana ツ (tsu) as the smile. 🤷 is something else: one graphic emoji, U+1F937 person shrugging, drawn differently by each platform.
Tap the large shrug below to copy it, or pick a variant from the grid. To type it without this page, set up a text replacement; the steps for Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android are further down.
Copy it for quick reactions
Chats
Drop ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ into Discord, Slack, WhatsApp or iMessage when the answer is uncertain or the plan is still open.
Comments
Use the text shrug in Reddit threads, GitHub issues or social replies when you want a dry "no idea" without adding a full sentence.
Work notes
Paste it in a commit message, bug note or plain-text document when the exact cause is unknown and the context is informal.
Shrug Emoji Meaning
The same raised-arms face can carry different messages depending on context:
- "I don't know" — answering a question you have no real information on, like "when does it ship?"
- "Whatever, your call" — stepping back from a low-stakes decision you genuinely don't care about, like where to eat.
- "It is what it is" — accepting an outcome you can't change, without sounding upset about it.
- "No idea how that happened" — reacting to a bug, typo, or weird result you can't explain.
- "Nothing I can do" — softening bad news when the situation is honestly out of your hands.
How to Use Shrug Emoji
Copy with one tap
Tap the large shrug or any variant in the grid. The button confirms the copy; if the browser blocks the clipboard, a text field appears so you can copy it by hand.
Or save a shortcut
Add a text replacement so that typing shrug inserts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. The steps for each platform are below.
Paste it anywhere
Paste with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac) into Discord, Slack, X, email, docs, or a commit message.
Platform-specific typing tips
Type shrug text on Windows
- Press Windows key + . (period), open the kaomoji tab
;-)and pick¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Available on Windows 10 version 1903 or later and Windows 11. - After copying it once, press Windows key + V and pin the shrug in clipboard history so it stays one click away.
Type shrug text on Mac
- System Settings → Keyboard → Text Replacements.
- Click +, type
shrugunder Replace and paste¯\_(ツ)_/¯under With. Replacements saved to iCloud also appear on your iPhone and iPad.
Type shrug text on iPhone (iOS)
- Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement.
- Shortcut
shrug, phrase¯\_(ツ)_/¯. - Tap the suggestion to insert the shrug emoticon.
Type shrug text on Android
- Keyboard settings → Dictionary / Personal dictionary.
- Create an entry: shortcut
shrug, phrase¯\_(ツ)_/¯. - Your keyboard suggests the shrug text when you type
shrug.
Keep the shrug one word away
After copying, add shrug as a text replacement on your phone or computer so you can type ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ without reopening the page.
Shrug text ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ vs the 🤷 emoji — which to use
Use the text shrug when you want plain characters: it can be selected, searched and edited, and it fits in a commit message or code comment. Use 🤷 when you want a picture: its artwork comes from the platform’s emoji font, and it has gender and skin-tone forms such as 🤷♀️, 🤷♂️ and 🤷🏽.
Watch for Markdown. In apps such as Reddit, GitHub or Discord, \_ is an escape sequence, so the backslash disappears and the shrug arrives as ¯_(ツ)_/¯ with one arm missing. Wrap it in backticks to keep it intact. In Slack, the built-in /shrug command adds the shrug to the end of your message.
Example uses
Discord, when a deploy breaks:
"staging is down again ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ rolling it back"
A git commit message:
fix: works on my machine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A Reddit reply about a removed post:
"mods took it down, no reason given ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
Frequently Asked Questions About Shrug Emoji
Are the text shrug and 🤷 the same?
No. 🤷 is a single emoji character (U+1F937) whose artwork depends on the device. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is nine ordinary text characters that you can edit like any other text.
Will the copied text look identical in every app?
Not always. Fonts, spacing and markup can change the pasted appearance: a missing arm usually means Markdown removed the backslash, and an empty box means the font has no glyph for ツ or ¯. Check the result in the destination before sending.
Is the text shrug’s inventor verified?
This site has not verified an inventor or first post for the exact text shrug. The graphic 🤷 was added in Unicode 9.0 (2016).