Left Half Block

The Left Half Block at U+258C is a solid rectangular symbol that fills the left half of a character cell, leaving the right half blank. It belongs to the Block Elements block, a set of characters designed for text-mode drawing, shading, and simple graphics made from monospaced cells. Its most common use is in terminal and console interfaces, where it helps draw pixel-like graphics, progress indicators, meters, and split-cell shapes without switching to images. In text user interfaces, ▌ can mark a filled half step in a bar, form the left edge of a panel, or combine with full block and right-half block characters to create coarse horizontal resolution. It also appears in plain-text art, retro computing displays, roguelike games, bulletin-board style layouts, and documentation that needs diagrams to remain copyable as text. Because its alignment depends heavily on a monospaced font and consistent line height, it can look uneven in proportional fonts or in environments that substitute a different block-symbol font.