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Star ASCII Art

Ascii art star designs in text: small stars, a shooting star, a starry night sky and larger stars made with keyboard characters. Tap to copy.

By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · · How we review content

Small stars

One line, 9 wide
One line, 19 wide · traditional
One line, 7 wide
4 lines, 8 wide

Bigger stars and skies

6 lines, 13 wide
5 lines, 19 wide
4 lines, 24 wide
7 lines, 25 wide

Made with our image converter

We drew a simple five-pointed star shape and ran it through the image to ASCII converter on this site. Braille pieces pack eight dots into each character, so they look smoother but rely on a font with Braille Patterns.

10 lines, 20 wide
16 lines, 31 wide
6 lines, 12 wide

11 pieces on this page. All are drawn for this site except those marked traditional, which have been shared online for years without a known author. Copy one and paste it into a code block, a terminal or any app that uses a monospace font; in a proportional font the lines drift apart. Make your own with the text to ASCII generator or the image to ASCII converter.

Key facts

  • The asterisk * is the keyboard star (Shift+8 on a US keyboard), and its name comes from the Greek for "little star".
  • A drawn five-pointed star cheats: the top point is /, the side points are flat lines and the bottom points lean outwards as / and .
  • A night sky is made by scattering *, . and + across a few lines, mixing big and small marks so some stars seem further away.
  • ★ (U+2605) and ☆ (U+2606) are Unicode symbols, not ASCII; the pure ASCII star is *.
  • A shooting star is drawn with a curved trail of . and ' behind a bright *.

How do you draw a star in text?

The simplest text star is the asterisk, *, whose name comes from the Greek for “little star”. Drawn stars use slashes for the points. A five-pointed star is hard in text because its points go off at angles that slashes cannot show, so text stars cheat: the top point is /\, the side points are flat lines, and the bottom two points are / and \ leaning outwards.

How do I make an ASCII art star sky?

Night skies are the easiest pieces to make yourself: scatter *, . and + across a few lines, mixing big and small marks so some stars seem further away. Add a crescent with brackets and quotes, or a shooting star with a curved trail of . and '.

Character Use
* Bright star
. Faint star
+ Twinkling star
' .-' Trail of a shooting star

For single star symbols (★ ☆ ✦ ✧ ✩ and many more), see star symbols. Whichever ascii art star you pick, paste it into a code block so every space keeps its width.

Frequently asked questions

Basics

Are ★ and ☆ ASCII?
No. They are Unicode symbols BLACK STAR (U+2605) and WHITE STAR (U+2606). They work on phones and modern computers. The pure ASCII star is *. If you need a star that works in a terminal or an old system, type * instead, which is available on every keyboard.
Why is the asterisk called a star?
The name asterisk comes from the Greek for "little star", and the * on your keyboard is the simplest text star. On a US keyboard you type it with Shift+8. It is pure ASCII, so it works in every app and font.
Which characters make a bright, faint or twinkling star?
Use * for a bright star, . for a faint one and + for a twinkling one. A shooting star's trail uses ' and .-' behind a bright star. Mixing the marks across a few lines is what makes a night sky look deep.

Where it works

Where can I find star symbols like ✦ and ✧?
The star symbols page lists single-character stars such as ★ ☆ ✦ ✧ ✩ and many more. They are Unicode characters, so they are easier to paste into bios and messages than drawn stars, which need a code block. Use drawn stars when you want points and skies, and symbols when one character is enough.
Can I put a star on top of a Christmas tree?
Yes. In a text Christmas tree the star goes on top of the branches, usually as * or a small drawn star. The Christmas ASCII art page explains how the tree is built, with the star at the top. Keep the star centred over the trunk column so the tree stays symmetrical.

How it works

How do I make a star with the keyboard?
The asterisk * is the keyboard star (Shift+8 on a US keyboard). For a drawn star, use / and \ for the points and _ for the flat edges, as in the small five-pointed star on this page. The asterisk works in every app and font, which makes it the safest star to type.
How do I draw a five-pointed star with slashes?
Text stars cheat. Put /\ at the top, draw the side points as flat lines, and lean / and \ outwards for the bottom two points. Slashes cannot show the true angles, so the small star on this page is an approximation.
How do I draw a shooting star?
Place a bright * and trail a curved line of . and ' behind it, using .-' for the curve. Add a few faint . and + marks around it so the star seems to cross a night sky. Keep the lines short for a phone.

Tips & limits

Why does the night sky look random when I paste it?
It depends on spacing. In a proportional font, spaces are narrow and the stars bunch together. Paste it into a code block so every space keeps its width. A code block gives every space the same width, so the stars stay where the art placed them and the sky keeps its depth.
How do I make some stars look further away?
Mix mark sizes: use * for the nearest, bright stars, + for the twinkling ones and . for the faint, distant ones, and scatter them unevenly across a few lines. Even spacing makes the sky look like a pattern rather than a night.

More ASCII art and tools