The Israeli new shekel is denoted in שקל חדש or by the acronym ש״ח. The symbol was announced officially on 22 September 1985, when the first new shekel banknotes and coins were introduced. It is constructed by combining the two Hebrew letters that constitute the acronym : "ש" and "ח". Sometimes the "₪" symbol is used following the number, other times the acronym ש״ח. symbol bearing the Shekel sign. The shekel sign, like the dollar sign, is usually placed left of the number, but since Hebrew is written from right to left, this means that the symbol is actually written after the number. It is either not separated from the preceding number, or is separated only by a thin space. Unlike the dollar sign, the new shekel sign is not used that often when handwriting monetary amounts. The road sign announcing the entrance to an Israeli toll road, such as Highway 6 or the Carmel Tunnels, is a shekel symbol with a road in the background.
The symbol has the Unicode code point. It has been found in Unicode since June 1993, version 1.1.0. According to the standard Hebrew keyboard it must be typed as AltGr+A. It can be typed into Microsoft Windows on a standard Hebrew keyboard layout by pressing AltGr and 4. The Shekel sign, however, is not drawn on most keyboards sold in Israel and the sign is rarely used in day-to-day typing. On an Ubuntu system it can be entered by holding down Ctrl+Shift+u, releasing and then typing the Unicode code point 20aa space. In Mac OS X it can be typed as Shift+7 when the system is set to a Hebrew keyboard layout.
The old Israeli shekel, "", in circulation between 1980 and 1985, had a different symbol, which was officially announced on 18 March 1980. It was a stylized Shin shaped like a cradle. Before the introduction of the old shekel in 1980, there was no special symbol for the Israeli currency. This symbol appeared on checks issued by Israeli banks between 1980 and 1985. Quoting prices in new shekels started officially on 1 January 1986, and the old shekel checks remaining unused had to be stamped with the new shekel symbol over the old symbol.
