Is cm³ the same as mL?

Yes, exactly. 1 cm³ is 1 mL and 1 dm³ is 1 L, by definition since the litre was redefined in 1964. The cc on engine sizes and syringes is the same cubic centimetre, so a 125 cc engine displaces 125 mL, and a cubic metre holds a thousand litres.

How do I write 10³ in code?

Use `10 ** 3` in Python and JavaScript, `pow(10, 3)` in C, or the literal 1e3 for a floating-point thousand. Don't reach for ^: in all three languages it's bitwise XOR, so `10 ^ 3` quietly gives 9 instead of 1000.

How do I draw a folder tree with │ ├ └ in a README?

Put it in a fenced code block so a monospaced font keeps the columns lined up. Use ├── for an entry with more siblings below it, └── for the last one, and │ to carry a branch down past nested items. On Linux or macOS with tree installed, `tree -L 2` prints the whole thing ready to paste.

Why does Alt+179 draw a vertical line instead of ³?

That line is │, the box-drawing character 179 stands for in the DOS table, which is where Alt codes look when there's no leading zero. Type Alt+0179 for ³. Code page 850, the Western European DOS set, puts ³ at 252, so Alt+252 gives ³ on those PCs but ⁿ on a US one.

ASCII 179

Superscript threeBox vertical line

ASCII 179 is ³ on Windows and │ in old DOS.

³ (Superscript Three) is byte 179 in Windows-1252, Unicode U+00B3. It writes cubes and volumes: m³, cm³, 10³. Only ¹, ² and ³ made it into Latin-1. The others, ⁰ and ⁴ through ⁹, sit in Unicode's Superscripts and Subscripts block from U+2070 on, and some fonts design the two groups separately, so 10³⁴ can show the 4 at a different height or weight than the 3. For exponents beyond 3, a sup element or real math markup looks more consistent. Code page 437 had ² but no ³ at all. In UTF-8 it's C2 B3, which misreads as Â³. The HTML entity is ³.

│ (Light Vertical) is byte 179 in code page 437, the original IBM PC character set, and maps to Unicode U+2502. It's the single vertical line of box drawing, joining corners such as ┌ (218) and └ (192) along the sides of a single-line frame, and it draws the trunk in directory trees. That's where it misbehaves. Run tree /f > tree.txt in cmd and the file gets code page 437 bytes, so an editor reading it as Windows-1252 turns every │ into ³ and the ├─── branches into ÃÄÄÄ. tree /a switches to plain ASCII, or you can open the file as code page 437. In UTF-8 it's E2 94 82. The HTML entity is &boxv;.

NumberBox Drawing

Technical Details

Code Example

</>

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    /* On Windows (code page 1252) byte 179 is ³.
       Modern terminals expect UTF-8, so print the code point, not the byte. */
    printf("\u00B3\n");   /* UTF-8: C2 B3 */

    unsigned char b = 179;         /* the raw Windows-1252 byte */
    printf("%d 0x%02X\n", b, b);    /* 179 0xB3 */
    return 0;
}

Code Example

</>

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    /* Byte 179 is │ only on a console using code page 437
       (chcp 437 on Windows, or DOSBox). On a UTF-8 terminal the
       lone byte 0xB3 is invalid and prints as garbage, often �. */
    putchar(179);

    /* char is signed on x86, so a plain char holding 0xB3 is -77.
       Use unsigned char when you compare or index by byte value. */
    char c = (char)179;
    unsigned char u = 179;
    printf("\n%d %d\n", c, u);   /* -77 179 */

    /* Portable: print the Unicode character as UTF-8 instead. */
    printf("\u2502\n");          /* E2 94 82 */
    return 0;
}

How to Type It

Windows: Hold Alt and type 0179 on the numeric keypad, with Num Lock on. The leading zero picks the Windows code page. No numeric keypad? In Word, type 00B3 and press Alt+X.
Mac: Press Control+Command+Space to open the Character Viewer, then search for "superscript three".
Linux: In GNOME, or any desktop running IBus, press Ctrl+Shift+U, type b3, then Space. With a Compose key set up, press Compose, caret, 3.
Phone: Tap the character at the top of this page to copy it.

How to Type It

Windows: Hold Alt and type 179 on the numeric keypad, with no leading zero. Windows reads it as a DOS code and inserts │. No numeric keypad? In Word, type 2502 and press Alt+X.
Mac: Press Control+Command+Space to open the Character Viewer, then search for "box drawings light vertical".
Linux: In GNOME, or any desktop running IBus, press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 2502, then Space.
Phone: Phone keyboards have no key for it. Tap the character at the top of this page to copy it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, exactly. 1 cm³ is 1 mL and 1 dm³ is 1 L, by definition since the litre was redefined in 1964. The cc on engine sizes and syringes is the same cubic centimetre, so a 125 cc engine displaces 125 mL, and a cubic metre holds a thousand litres.
Use `10 ** 3` in Python and JavaScript, `pow(10, 3)` in C, or the literal 1e3 for a floating-point thousand. Don't reach for ^: in all three languages it's bitwise XOR, so `10 ^ 3` quietly gives 9 instead of 1000.
That line is │, the box-drawing character 179 stands for in the DOS table, which is where Alt codes look when there's no leading zero. Type Alt+0179 for ³. Code page 850, the Western European DOS set, puts ³ at 252, so Alt+252 gives ³ on those PCs but ⁿ on a US one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Put it in a fenced code block so a monospaced font keeps the columns lined up. Use ├── for an entry with more siblings below it, └── for the last one, and │ to carry a branch down past nested items. On Linux or macOS with tree installed, `tree -L 2` prints the whole thing ready to paste.
That line is │, the box-drawing character 179 stands for in the DOS table, which is where Alt codes look when there's no leading zero. Type Alt+0179 for ³. Code page 850, the Western European DOS set, puts ³ at 252, so Alt+252 gives ³ on those PCs but ⁿ on a US one.

ASCII 179

Superscript threeBox vertical line

ASCII 179 is ³ on Windows and │ in old DOS.

Number

Box Drawing

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

/* On Windows (code page 1252) byte 179 is ³.

Modern terminals expect UTF-8, so print the code point, not the byte. */

printf("\u00B3\n"); /* UTF-8: C2 B3 */

unsigned char b = 179; /* the raw Windows-1252 byte */

printf("%d 0x%02X\n", b, b); /* 179 0xB3 */

return 0;

}

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

/* Byte 179 is │ only on a console using code page 437

(chcp 437 on Windows, or DOSBox). On a UTF-8 terminal the

lone byte 0xB3 is invalid and prints as garbage, often �. */

putchar(179);

/* char is signed on x86, so a plain char holding 0xB3 is -77.

Use unsigned char when you compare or index by byte value. */

char c = (char)179;

unsigned char u = 179;

printf("\n%d %d\n", c, u); /* -77 179 */

/* Portable: print the Unicode character as UTF-8 instead. */

printf("\u2502\n"); /* E2 94 82 */

return 0;

}