Advanced Special characters / Symbols

Advanced Special characters / Symbols

 

Tip sheet on special characters

This page will show users (of the Windows or Macintosh OS X operating systems), having a western european “standard” keyboard (showing the latin alphabet), how to generate other characters they might not see on the keyboard. For example a US keyboard will not show accented letters as used in French. A French keyboard will show accented letters common in French, but not accented letters used in Spanish. And so on… You can read the instructions below, or skip directly to the chart.

Special characters on Macintosh (Apple keyboards)

On MacOS, the option key functions as a modifier key like the shift key. Hold it down and press another key simultaneously. For shift+option, hold down both the shift and option keys and press the additional letter key simultaneously.

Special characters on Windows (PC keyboards)

On Windows, the Alt key functions as a modifier like the Shift key. To make special characters, hold down the Alt key and type in the numbers from the numeric keypad. Note that on the some small keyboards (e.g. laptop keybaords) the “numeric keypad” is found by pressing the NumLock key and then looking for the keys on your keyboard that double as numeric keypad keys when in NumLock mode.

Software to help you find special characters

Macintosh OS x

On Macintosh OS X, you can use the operating system’s character palette to find special characters. Press command+option+T to make the character palette window appear.
The character palette will also show up as a menu item in the keyboard menu if the keyboard menu is displayed in the top right of your menu bar. The keyboard menu shows as a flag corresponding to the currently active keyboard layout.
See Apple support document Enter special characters and symbols.

Windows

For Windows, use the Character Map application, available from the Start Menu (look in System Tools).
See Microsoft document Using special characters (Character Map): frequently asked questions.

Third-party software

(Note: I’m mentioning a useful little program because I use it at home on my Macintosh, and at work on a Windows machine; it helps you find a special character when you forget the key combination for it. Here’s how the author describes it:

If you don’t want to remember all these numbers, you should try the little shareware utility PopChar from ergonis software. One click, and PopChar displays a table of all characters of the current font. Select the desired character and it instantly appears in your document. You can also insert HTML symbols. PopChar is available for Macintosh OS X and Windows.)

Characters not listed on this page

For more HTML number codes, see Character entity references in HTML 4. For any characters not listed here, you can look at the Unicode character set, which is a whole subject in itself. Suffice it to say that any modern computer operating system and/or web browser can handle Unicode characters and Unicode documents: generating those characters is the tricky part.

Special character chart for western european characters

How to use this chart

You can use the html name or number codes in an HTML document (i.e. a webpage or an e-mail that uses HTML format.)
For Macintosh: press the keys as shown. for example “shift+option+w” means press down the shift key, the option key, and the w key all at the same time. “option+e E” means press down the option key and the e key at the same time, then press the E key (capital E).

Western european special characters and how to enter them from your keyboard

HTML Name Code	HTML Number Code	Glyph	MacOS	Windows	Description
‘	‘	‘	option+]	Alt+0145	left single quote
’	’	’	shift+option+]	Alt+0146	right single quote
‚	‚	‚			single low-9 quote
“	“	“	option+[	Alt+0147	left double quote
”	”	”	shift+option+[	Alt+0148	right double quote
„	„	„	shift+option+w		double low-9 quote
†	†	†	option+t	Alt+0134	dagger
‡	‡	‡	shift+option+7	Alt+0135	double dagger
	…	…	option+;		horizontal ellipsis
‰	‰	‰	shift+option+r	Alt+0137	per mill sign
‹	‹	‹	shift+option+3	Alt+0139	single left-pointing angle quote
›	›	›	shift+option+4	Alt+0155	single right-pointing angle quote
♠	♠	♠			black spade suit
♣	♣	♣			black club suit
♥	♥	♥			black heart suit
♦	♦	♦			black diamond suit
‾	‾	‾			overline, = spacing overscore
←	←	←			leftward arrow
↑	↑	↑			upward arrow
→	→	→			rightward arrow
↓	↓	↓			downward arrow
™	™	™	option+2	Alt+0153	trademark sign
"	"	"			double quotation mark
&	&	&			ampersand
&lt;	&#60;	<			less-than sign
&gt;	&#62;	>			greater-than sign
	&#91;	[			left square bracket
	&#93;	]			right square bracket
&ndash;	&#150;	–	option+hyphen	Alt+0150	en dash
&mdash;	&#151;	—	shift+option+hyphen	Alt+0151	em dash
&nbsp;	&#160;			Alt+0160	nonbreaking space
&iexcl;	&#161;	¡	option+1	Alt+0161	inverted exclamation
&cent;	&#162;	¢	option+4	Alt+0162	cent sign
&pound;	&#163;	£	option+3	Alt+0163	pound sterling
&curren;	&#164;	¤		Alt+0164	general currency sign
&yen;	&#165;	¥	option+y	Alt+0165	yen sign
&brvbar; or &brkbar;	&#166;	¦		Alt+0166	broken vertical bar
&sect;	&#167;	§	option+6	Alt+0167	section sign
&uml; or &die;	&#168;	¨	shift+option+u	Alt+0168	umlaut
&copy;	&#169;	©	option+g	Alt+0169	copyright
&ordf;	&#170;	ª	option+9	Alt+0170	feminine ordinal
&laquo;	&#171;	«	option+\	Alt+0171	left angle quote
&not;	&#172;	¬	option+l	Alt+0172	not sign
&shy;	&#173;	­		Alt+0173	soft hyphen
&reg;	&#174;	®	option+r	Alt+0174	registered trademark
&macr; or &hibar;	&#175;	¯		Alt+0175	macron accent
&deg;	&#176;	°	shift+option+8	Alt+0176	degree sign
&plusmn;	&#177;	±	shift+option+=	Alt+0177	plus or minus
&sup2;	&#178;	²		Alt+0178	superscript two
&sup3;	&#179;	³		Alt+0179	superscript three
&acute;	&#180;	´	shift+option+e	Alt+0180	acute accent
&micro;	&#181;	µ	option+m	Alt+0181	micro sign
&para;	&#182;	¶	option+7	Alt+0182	paragraph sign
&middot;	&#183;	·	shift+option+9	Alt+0183	middle dot
&cedil;	&#184;	¸	shift+option+z	Alt+0184	cedilla
&sup1;	&#185;	¹		Alt+0185	superscript one
&ordm;	&#186;	º	option+0	Alt+0186	masculine ordinal
&raquo;	&#187;	»	shift+option+\	Alt+0187	right angle quote
&frac14;	&#188;	¼		Alt+0188	one-fourth
&frac12;	&#189;	½		Alt+0189	one-half
&frac34;	&#190;	¾		Alt+0190	three-fourths
&iquest;	&#191;	¿	shift+option+?	Alt+0191	inverted question mark
&Agrave;	&#192;	À	option+` A	Alt+0192	uppercase A, grave accent
&Aacute;	&#193;	Á	option+e A	Alt+0193	uppercase A, acute accent
&Acirc;	&#194;	Â	option+i A	Alt+0194	uppercase A, circumflex accent
&Atilde;	&#195;	Ã	option+n A	Alt+0195	uppercase A, tilde
&Auml;	&#196;	Ä	option+u A	Alt+0196	uppercase A, umlaut
&Aring;	&#197;	Å	shift+option+a	Alt+0197	uppercase A, ring
&AElig;	&#198;	Æ	shift+option+'	Alt+0198	uppercase AE
&Ccedil;	&#199;	Ç	shift+option+c	Alt+0199	uppercase C, cedilla
&Egrave;	&#200;	È	option+` E	Alt+0200	uppercase E, grave accent
&Eacute;	&#201;	É	option+e E	Alt+0201	uppercase E, acute accent
&Ecirc;	&#202;	Ê	option+i E	Alt+0202	uppercase E, circumflex accent
&Euml;	&#203;	Ë	option+u E	Alt+0203	uppercase E, umlaut
&Igrave;	&#204;	Ì	option+` I	Alt+0204	uppercase I, grave accent
&Iacute;	&#205;	Í	option+e I	Alt+0205	uppercase I, acute accent
&Icirc;	&#206;	Î	option+i I	Alt+0206	uppercase I, circumflex accent
&Iuml;	&#207;	Ï	option+u I	Alt+0207	uppercase I, umlaut
&ETH;	&#208;	Ð		Alt+0208	uppercase Eth, Icelandic
&Ntilde;	&#209;	Ñ	option+n N	Alt+0209	uppercase N, tilde
&Ograve;	&#210;	Ò	option+` O	Alt+0210	uppercase O, grave accent
&Oacute;	&#211;	Ó	option+e O	Alt+0211	uppercase O, acute accent
&Ocirc;	&#212;	Ô	option+i O	Alt+0212	uppercase O, circumflex accent
&Otilde;	&#213;	Õ	option+n O	Alt+0213	uppercase O, tilde
&Ouml;	&#214;	Ö	option+u O	Alt+0214	uppercase O, umlaut
&times;	&#215;	×		Alt+0215	multiplication sign
&Oslash;	&#216;	Ø	shift+option+o	Alt+0216	uppercase O, slash
&Ugrave;	&#217;	Ù	option+` U	Alt+0217	uppercase U, grave accent
&Uacute;	&#218;	Ú	option+e U	Alt+0218	uppercase U, acute accent
&Ucirc;	&#219;	Û	option+i U	Alt+0219	uppercase U, circumflex accent
&Uuml;	&#220;	Ü	option+u U	Alt+0220	uppercase U, umlaut
&Yacute;	&#221;	Ý		Alt+0221	uppercase Y, acute accent
&THORN;	&#222;	Þ		Alt+0222	uppercase THORN, Icelandic
&szlig;	&#223;	ß	option+s	Alt+0223	lowercase sharps, German
&agrave;	&#224;	à	option+` a	Alt+0224	lowercase a, grave accent
&aacute;	&#225;	á	option+e a	Alt+0225	lowercase a, acute accent
&acirc;	&#226;	â	option+i a	Alt+0226	lowercase a, circumflex accent
&atilde;	&#227;	ã	option+n a	Alt+0227	lowercase a, tilde
&auml;	&#228;	ä	option+u a	Alt+0228	lowercase a, umlaut
&aring;	&#229;	å	option+a	Alt+0229	lowercase a, ring
&aelig;	&#230;	æ	option+'	Alt+0230	lowercase ae
&ccedil;	&#231;	ç	option+c	Alt+0231	lowercase c, cedilla
&egrave;	&#232;	è	option+` e	Alt+0232	lowercase e, grave accent
&eacute;	&#233;	é	option+e e	Alt+0233	lowercase e, acute accent
&ecirc;	&#234;	ê	option+i e	Alt+0234	lowercase e, circumflex accent
&euml;	&#235;	ë	option+u e	Alt+0235	lowercase e, umlaut
&igrave;	&#236;	ì	option+` i	Alt+0236	lowercase i, grave accent
&iacute;	&#237;	í	option+e i	Alt+0237	lowercase i, acute accent
&icirc;	&#238;	î	option+i i	Alt+0238	lowercase i, circumflex accent
&iuml;	&#239;	ï	option+u i	Alt+0239	lowercase i, umlaut
&eth;	&#240;	ð		Alt+0240	lowercase eth, Icelandic
&ntilde;	&#241;	ñ	option+n n	Alt+0241	lowercase n, tilde
&ograve;	&#242;	ò	option+` o	Alt+0242	lowercase o, grave accent
&oacute;	&#243;	ó	option+e o	Alt+0243	lowercase o, acute accent
&ocirc;	&#244;	ô	option+i o	Alt+0244	lowercase o, circumflex accent
&otilde;	&#245;	õ	option+n o	Alt+0245	lowercase o, tilde
&ouml;	&#246;	ö	option+u o	Alt+0246	lowercase o, umlaut
&divide;	&#247;	÷		Alt+0247	division sign
&oslash;	&#248;	ø	option+o	Alt+0248	lowercase o, slash
&ugrave;	&#249;	ù	option+` u	Alt+0249	lowercase u, grave accent
&uacute;	&#250;	ú	option+e u	Alt+0250	lowercase u, acute accent
&ucirc;	&#251;	û	option+i u	Alt+0251	lowercase u, circumflex accent
&uuml;	&#252;	ü	option+u u	Alt+0252	lowercase u, umlaut
&yacute;	&#253;	ý		Alt+0253	lowercase y, acute accent
&thorn;	&#254;	þ		Alt+0254	lowercase thorn, Icelandic
&yuml;	&#255;	ÿ	option+u y	Alt+0255	lowercase y, umlaut