Turkish lira symbol and code: ₺, TRY, notes and formatting

Short answer: The Turkish lira symbol is ₺ (Unicode U+20BA), the abbreviation is TL, and the ISO 4217 currency code is TRY with numeric code 949 and two minor units, per the ISO list published on 17 September 2026. The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (TCMB) says the sign goes directly to the left of the amount with no space, as in ₺1.234,50, and prefers TL or Türk lirası in running text. On Windows, AltGr+T types ₺ only on the Turkish Q and Turkish F layouts.

This reference is for anyone writing, typing or storing lira amounts: developers localizing a product, translators and finance teams cleaning old data. Most pages stop at the sign. This one also records what happened when the shortcuts, fonts and formatting libraries were actually tested on 6 November 2026, and says plainly which ones could not be tested here.

It covers the sign and the code rather than the currency's value. For exchange rates see how to read TCMB rates, and for prices see Turkish lira inflation rate.

Turkish lira symbol, code and abbreviation at a glance

The lira has one sign (₺), one abbreviation (TL) and one ISO code (TRY), and each has its own place according to TCMB and the ISO maintenance list.

TCMB's FAQ sets out the usage: use either the sign or the abbreviation, never both together; prefer Türk lirası or TL in texts and official correspondence; use the sign in graphics and tables; and put the sign to the left of the amount with no space, as international practice does, including on negotiable instruments such as checks. Turkish legal texts put the abbreviation after the number: Law No. 5083 writes "1.000.000 TL", and Article 3(d) of Decree No. 32 (consolidated text of July 2025) writes "185.000 TL". TCMB chose the sign through a design competition, and Unicode 6.2 was a special release to encode it. For international documents and data, TRY is the unambiguous choice. The English-language name in the ISO list is Turkish Lira, and the country entry now reads TÜRKİYE.

How to type the Turkish lira symbol on a keyboard

On Windows, AltGr+T types ₺ on the Turkish Q and Turkish F layouts, the French (Standard) AZERTY and BÉPO layouts reach it through a currency dead key, and other setups need a character picker or a code point.

The check on Windows read every keyboard layout file on a Windows 11 test machine (217 in all), loading each only inside the test process, and scanned its key and dead-key tables for U+20BA. Alt plus numeric keypad codes are widely quoted for this sign, but none was tested, so none is recommended here. Copying ₺ from this page works anywhere that accepts Unicode text.

Font and encoding support: where ₺ still breaks

Support is not universal: on the test machine only 24 of 240 installed font families contained U+20BA, and legacy Turkish encodings cannot store the sign at all.

Font versions vary between machines, so test the fonts you actually ship. A missing glyph usually means fallback to another font or an empty box, which can look wrong in a logo or a price tag.

• Web fonts. In the Google Fonts CSS that a current browser received for Inter, Roboto and Open Sans on 6 November 2026, U+20BA falls in the latin-ext subset's unicode-range, not the latin one. A site that self-hosts only the Latin subset will show ₺ in a fallback font. Add latin-ext, which Turkish text needs anyway.
• Encodings. Python 3.11 cannot encode ₺ in cp1254 (Windows Turkish), ISO-8859-9 or cp857. On a Windows machine whose ANSI code page is 1254, print('\u20ba') with output redirected to a file failed with UnicodeEncodeError: 'charmap' codec can't encode character '\u20ba'; with -X utf8 it wrote the bytes E2 82 BA. Store and transmit as UTF-8, and run Python with -X utf8 on such machines.

Formatting Turkish lira amounts in JavaScript and Python

Use a locale-aware formatter rather than string concatenation, because the same amount prints differently by locale and the libraries disagree in small ways.

const amount = 1234.5;
const fmt = (loc, extra = {}) =>
  new Intl.NumberFormat(loc, { style: "currency", currency: "TRY", ...extra }).format(amount);

console.log(fmt("tr-TR"));                                   // ₺1.234,50
console.log(fmt("en-US"));                                   // TRY 1,234.50
console.log(fmt("en-US", { currencyDisplay: "narrowSymbol" })); // ₺1,234.50
console.log(fmt("de-DE"));                                   // 1.234,50 TRY

# On Windows, run with python -X utf8 (see the encoding note above)
from babel.numbers import format_currency

for locale in ("tr_TR", "en_US", "de_DE"):
    print(locale, format_currency(1234.5, "TRY", locale=locale))

Results, run on 6 November 2026 with Node 24.15.0 (ICU 78.2, CLDR 48) and Babel 2.18.0 on Python 3.11.3:

Four points follow from those results.

• US English does not show ₺ by default. Intl needs currencyDisplay: "narrowSymbol" to print ₺1,234.50.
• Check the name style before using it. In the same Node build, fmt("tr-TR", { currencyDisplay: "name" }) printed ₺1.234,50 Türk lirası, with the sign and the name together.
• Do not compare formatted strings in tests. The no-break space (U+00A0) and the library differences will break exact matches, and locale data updates can change them.
• Keep the value and its display apart. Store an integer number of kuruş or a decimal plus the code TRY, and format at display time. Parse Turkish input with care: 1.234,50 means one thousand two hundred thirty-four and a half.

The Turkish output agrees with TCMB's rule of sign on the left with no space. For VAT on such amounts, see the Turkey VAT calculator. If you are wiring lira-quoted data into a product, Fincode's Turkish exchange connectors page describes that kind of work in general terms.

TL, TRY, YTL and TRL: old codes in old data

TRY has been the ISO code since 2005, when Law No. 5083 removed six zeros by setting 1 New Turkish Lira equal to 1,000,000 old lira, so anything older may be in a different unit.

Four traps come up in old data. YTL was an abbreviation and never an ISO code, so a currency field holding YTL needs mapping to TRY. "TL" on a pre-2005 document means the old unit, while TL today means the current one, so check the date. Old and new notes and coins circulated together from 1 January to 31 December 2005 under Temporary Article 1 of Law No. 5083, so 2005 records need particular care. And ISO List Three, published 1 January 2026, spells the country TURKEY while List One now spells it TÜRKİYE, so match on the numeric code rather than the name. List Three also carries New Turkish Lira under TRY 949 as withdrawn in 2009-01, while List One keeps TRY 949 for today's Turkish Lira, so a historic lookup can return two names for one code.

Turkish lira banknotes and coins in circulation

Banknotes in circulation are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 lira from TCMB's E9 emission group, and coins are 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 kuruş plus 1 and 5 lira, according to TCMB (notes) and the Mint (coins) as read on 6 November 2026.

TCMB says later series circulate together with earlier versions of each note, and the first E9 series dates from 1 January 2009. The page read announces no new denomination, and this guide says nothing about future issues. The coin list comes from the Mint's bulletin for its 2024 circulation coin set (Ministry of Treasury and Finance), the most recent official coin list found on 6 November 2026.

If you plan to reproduce a banknote image on a site or in print, Article 4 of Law No. 5083 has TCMB set the conditions (size, color, resolution, wording and similar), published in the Resmî Gazete, and provides an administrative fine for breaching them, so check those conditions first. Getting lira into an account is covered in bank account in Turkey for foreigners.

Frequently asked questions

What is the symbol for the Turkish lira?

₺, Unicode U+20BA. TCMB says it goes to the left of the amount with no space, and recommends it for graphics and tables, with TL or Türk lirası preferred in running text.

What is the currency code for the Turkish lira?

TRY, with ISO numeric code 949 and two minor units, per the ISO 4217 list published on 17 September 2026. The older code TRL (792) was withdrawn in December 2005.

How do I type the Turkish lira symbol on a keyboard?

AltGr+T on the Windows Turkish Q and Turkish F layouts, checked in the layout files on 6 November 2026. The French (Standard) AZERTY and BÉPO layouts reach it through the currency dead key ¤ followed by l. No other Windows layout on the test machine has it, so use a character picker, or copy ₺ from this page.

Should I write TL or TRY?

TL is the abbreviation TCMB uses in Turkish text. TRY is the ISO code, so it is the safer choice for international invoices, data files and software.

What Turkish lira banknotes are in circulation?

5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 lira from the E9 emission group. As of 6 November 2026, TCMB's page lists the latest series dates up to 26 October 2026 and announces no new denomination.

Sources

• TCMB: Turkish Lira Sign (opens in a new tab)
• TCMB: Turkish lira sign installation, Unicode and older systems (opens in a new tab)
• TCMB: Frequently asked questions, how the TL sign is used (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• TCMB: Banknotes in Circulation and Their Security Features (opens in a new tab)
• ISO 4217 maintenance agency (SIX): List One, active codes, published 17 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
• ISO 4217 maintenance agency (SIX): List Three, historic codes, published 1 January 2026 (opens in a new tab)
• Unicode: Currency Symbols chart, U+20A0 to U+20CF (opens in a new tab)
• Unicode 6.2.0, released 26 September 2012 (opens in a new tab)
• Mevzuat: Law No. 5083 on the Currency Unit of the Republic of Turkey, adopted 28 January 2004, consolidated text (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• Ministry of Treasury and Finance, Mint: 2024 circulation coin set bulletin (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
• Microsoft Support: Insert ASCII or Unicode Latin-based symbols and characters (opens in a new tab)
• Apple Support: Use emoji and symbols on Mac (opens in a new tab)
• GNOME Help: Enter special characters (opens in a new tab)
• Google Fonts: CSS API response for Inter, Roboto and Open Sans (subset unicode ranges) (opens in a new tab)
• Ministry of Treasury and Finance: Decree No. 32, consolidated text, July 2025 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)

This guide is general information, not investment, legal or tax advice. Amounts, rates and rules in Turkey change often: check the date given for each figure and the official source before you rely on it, and ask a licensed adviser about your own situation. Sources, checks and corrections: see the editorial policy.