How to Type ž (Z with caron) on Excel

Published July 21, 2026, 2 min read

The letter ž does not have its own key on an English keyboard, but Excel still makes it easy to type. Use =UNICHAR(382), or pick one of the other methods in this guide. ž appears in Czech, Slovak, Finnish and Croatian.

ž on Excel: =UNICHAR(382)

Ž on Excel: =UNICHAR(381)

Or copy it:

Method 1: UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(382) in a cell to get ž. To check a letter, =UNICODE("ž") returns 382. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

Method 2: CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(158) also returns ž on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

Method 3: Keyboard methods inside a cell

Double-click the cell, then use Alt+0158 on Windows or Unicode Hex Input (Option + 017E) on a Mac.

Method 4: Find and replace accented text

Use =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"ž","z") to strip this accent from a column, for example when cleaning names for an email system that does not accept accents.

How to type the capital Ž

The uppercase form works the same way with Shift added where a letter is typed.

UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(381) in a cell to get Ž. To check a letter, =UNICODE("Ž") returns 381. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(142) also returns Ž on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

About the letter ž

ž is Unicode U+017E, named LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH CARON. It is used in Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Croatian, Slovenian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian. A small v above a letter, called háček in Czech and kvačica in Croatian. It softens consonants (č, š, ž, ř) and marks the third tone in Pinyin (ǎ, ǐ). See the ž character page for every code and shortcut.

Troubleshooting

UNICHAR is not available in Excel 2010 and earlier.
CSV files saved as plain "CSV" may lose accents. Save as "CSV UTF-8".
If accents show as question marks after import, set the file origin to 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) in the import wizard.

Frequently asked questions

What is the shortcut for ž on Excel?

=UNICHAR(382).

Can I just copy and paste ž?

Yes. Click the copy button above, then paste with Ctrl+V on Windows and Chromebook, Cmd+V on a Mac, or touch and hold and choose Paste on a phone.

What is the Unicode code for ž?

U+017E. In HTML it is ž.

Related guides

All accent shortcuts for Excel