The Tab key rarely needs explanation until a shortcut guide replaces the word Tab with an arrow-and-bar symbol. Then two similar marks can appear: ⇥ pointing right and ⇤ pointing left.
They are not mirror images chosen only for decoration. Unicode identifies ⇥ as U+21E5 RIGHTWARDS ARROW TO BAR and annotates it as a rightward tab symbol; ⇤ is U+21E4 LEFTWARDS ARROW TO BAR and is associated with a leftward tab. On keyboards and in software instructions, the pair is commonly read as forward tab and reverse tab.
What Tab Usually Does
In a form, dialog, or web page, pressing Tab commonly moves keyboard focus to the next interactive control. A cursor may jump from one text field to the next, then to a button or link. In a text editor, the same key may instead insert indentation or move the insertion point to the next tab stop.
That difference is important. “Tab” names a key and an action family; it does not promise one universal result. The application decides whether Tab changes focus, inserts a tab character, indents a line, changes a table cell, or does something more specialized.
Web keyboard events reflect this distinction. The logical key value is Tab, but what an application does after receiving that event belongs to the interface or editor rather than to the character printed on the key.
Why Shift+Tab Goes the Other Way
Most graphical interfaces pair Tab with a reverse traversal: hold Shift and press Tab to move to the previous focusable control. That is the action people usually mean by Backtab or reverse tab.
A left-pointing tab symbol works well in shortcut diagrams because it signals “go back through the sequence.” It is notation for an action, not a printable character you are expected to enter.
The distinction is especially useful in forms. If Tab moves from “Name” to “Email,” Shift+Tab normally moves from “Email” back to “Name.” The same pattern appears in many preference windows, browser interfaces, spreadsheets, and desktop applications.
If you already know the difference between Shift and Caps Lock, this is a good example of why Shift is a modifier rather than a persistent state: holding it changes the meaning of another key for one action.
⇥ and ⇤ Are Unicode Characters
The symbols themselves can exist in text independently of any keyboard. ⇥ and ⇤ are ordinary Unicode characters in the Arrows block.
| Symbol | Unicode name | Keyboard reading |
|---|---|---|
| ⇥ | U+21E5 RIGHTWARDS ARROW TO BAR | Rightward / forward tab |
| ⇤ | U+21E4 LEFTWARDS ARROW TO BAR | Leftward / reverse tab |
| ↹ | U+21B9 LEFTWARDS ARROW TO BAR OVER RIGHTWARDS ARROW TO BAR | Tab with Shift-Tab |
| ⭾ | U+2B7E HORIZONTAL TAB KEY | Dedicated horizontal-tab keyboard symbol |
Unicode has several tab-related symbols, so different manuals can legitimately choose different glyphs. If the exact character matters, check the code point rather than assuming that every tab icon is the same symbol.
A Tab Key Is Not the Same Thing as a Tab Character
There is also a data-level distinction that is easy to miss. U+0009 CHARACTER TABULATION, historically called horizontal tab, is a control character. Unicode provides the visible control picture ␉ U+2409 SYMBOL FOR HORIZONTAL TABULATION for situations where that otherwise invisible control needs to be shown.
Pressing the Tab key in a plain-text editor may insert U+0009, but a web form may use the key only to move focus and insert nothing. A code editor may convert the action into spaces. A spreadsheet may select the next cell. Seeing ⇥ in a menu therefore does not mean the document will contain U+21E5, U+0009, or any particular sequence at all.
Reading Tab Symbols in Shortcut Instructions
When ⇥ appears beside other keyboard symbols, read it as an instruction to use the Tab key unless the application says otherwise. When ⇤ appears, look for Shift+Tab, previous field, previous control, or another reverse-navigation action.
In a shortcut guide, the useful question is usually simpler: does the interface want the next focusable control or the previous one? The arrow direction often answers that faster than the exact keycap artwork.
Tab Order Is Part of Interface Design
In a well-structured interface, Tab order should follow a sequence that makes sense without a mouse. That may be the visual reading order, but not always: dialogs sometimes place the default action after fields, and complex widgets can manage focus internally.
When Tab seems to “skip” an element, the problem may be the interface rather than the keyboard. Disabled controls, non-focusable elements, custom widgets, and application-specific navigation can all change the route. Reverse tabbing normally walks that same focus order in the opposite direction.
So “move right” and “move left” are poor literal definitions. The arrows are mnemonic. Focus may move vertically, wrap to another row, or jump to a control elsewhere on the screen.
Tab Key, Tab Symbol, and Tab Character
These three are easy to blur together because they share the same name. The key is hardware input, ⇥ is visible notation, and U+0009 is a control character that may or may not be inserted when the key is pressed. Keeping those layers separate makes tab behavior much easier to reason about.