Enter special characters - how it is done

[tonyp]

I'm writing this as I wanted to know how to input the degree character ( ° ) and read a load of complex ways of doing this, before finding that it was already in Mint (Mate at least).

This is how it is done.

• Goto Control Center

• Select Keyboard

• Select the Layouts tab

• With your usual keyboard layout selected click on Show . The picture of your keyboard is shown (this can be printed, for later reference)

• On my keyboard, the degree symbol is shown as having something to do with the "0" zero key (above the letters). The way it works is - press 0 by itself, and you get "0" (this is level 1), press Shift and 0 and you get ")" (this is level 2). Now, to get level three and level four (which on my keyboard layout will give me curly bracket and degree symbol) you need to press the level three key. This, on my keyboard, is the Right Alt key, also shown as Alt Gr (see below on how to set it, if not already set). So, pressing and holding the Alt Gr key and then the 0 gives me "}" curly bracket (this is level 3) and pressing and holding both Alt Gr and Shift keys plus the 0 gives me " ° " the degree symbol (this is level 4)

There are many other special characters already defined, such as ħ (no, I don't know what that is either), or ł or ç - you get the idea.

If you want to set the Level 3 key,

• Goto Control Center

• Select Keyboard

• Select the Layouts tab

• With your usual keyboard layout selected click on Options .

• Expand Key to choose the third level

• Select the key you want to use form the list given

Like I said, I'm writing this as (a) I didn't know it before and (b) it's a lot easier than some of the ways described in other posts.

[tonyp]

The above post is for Mate.
I have checked Cinnamon and it's almost identical.
I've checked XFCE and you'll need to use the "Compose" function (explained in other posts on this forum).

[Da Londo]

Actually very helpfull, I was using EN US with € on 5 but I'm happier with EN intl with AltGr dead keys.

[rene]

Pedantic addition: you "should" in fact use AltGr-Shift-:

See /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us where the symbol on the 0-key is named "abovering" and the above one "degree".

[GS3]

I always use EN US Intl with dead keys and I find the degree ° at Right Alt + Shift + ;

With EN US Intl with dead keys the dead keys do not always work like in MS Windows which is what I am used to so maybe I should try getting used to using the "right alt" combinations to do the same characters.

[Cassandra]

With EN US Intl with dead keys the dead keys do not always work like in MS Windows which is what I am used to so maybe I should try getting used to using the "right alt" combinations to do the same characters.

Different national keyboard layouts will produce different results when using the Alt Gr (right-Alt) key, but there is another way to access special characters in Mint, and it is one that will always work, no matter which national layout the computer's keyboard is set to use.

When I started using Windows, I had to use the 'Character Map' program to insert characters such as æ, à,°, etc.
When doing so, I noticed that the 'Character Map' program displayed keyboard shortcuts for many of them, usually based on holding down the Alt key and then (with NumLock enabled) typing a four-digit code.

When I switched over to Mint, I found that it too contains a program called 'Character Map'...
lm menu (Super key) → Accessories → Character Map

...which works in the same way as its Windows equivalent (i.e. one can copy the character(s) that one wishes to use, and then paste them in to the text that one is typing).
It, too, displays keyboard shortcut codes for its characters - but it does so for all of the available characters in the UTF16 character sets - which is over 1,000,000 - as opposed to its Windows equivalent, which only has shortcut codes for the 256 characters in the ASCII set.

To enter these codes to 'type' one's chosen special character, one does not hold down the Alt key while entering a four-digit code, but holds down the Ctrl and Shift keys whilst typing an alphanumeric code. These vary in length, but if one often uses the same characters, one will soon memorise their keyboard shortcuts.

One can, for instance, type the character à by holding down Ctrl+Shft and then typing U00e0.

Other examples include:
é ctrl+shft+ue9
è ctrl+shft+u00e8
¡ ctrl+shft+ua1
¿ ctrl+shft+ubf
‽ ctrl+shft+u203D
• ctrl+shft+u2202
† ctrl+shft+u2020
‡ ctrl+shft+u2021

As I am new to Linux, I have created a text file that contains the shortcut codes for the special characters that I use most often, and have saved it on my desktop, for quick access.
Over time, the UTF16 codes for the characters that I use most-often will become habitual for me, and I will no longer need to look them up in my text file.

Have fun

Slàinte,
Cass.

[cliffcoggin]

I too, being unable to remember keyboard shortcuts, use the Character Map. The degree symbol (°) there is in the Common table.

[rene]

Back in old WordPerfect 4.2/5.1 days a large percentage of systems I came across had their keyboards plastered with stickers and/or paper/plastic overlays with WordPerfect keyboard shortcuts. A fair percentage of the readership of this forum in fact being from that era that system might be worth revisiting. I.e., print out the layout picture for your used layout that the Keyboard configuration dialogue presents you and hang it on the wall or some such.

[absque fenestris]

As an incorrigible mouse user, I tend more towards Onboard:

[rickNS]

Ya, that's another way, but which keyboard "level" is my desired character on ? , which DE am I on, etc.

I'm not a fan of the compose method either.
I much prefer the Unicode way. (similar to @Cassandra above)
It will cover you for any symbol you could ever want, and is universal across desktops, and distributions, learn this once, and your done for all of Linux.

And so I don't have to remember the ones I use, might use, I keep a small text file with them in it. From there you can copy paste or just use the code.

For degree it's B0 (second character is zero)
To use hold down ctrl + shft press U, release, enter code, then enter.

degree = ctrl + shift + u then B0 enter = °
happy face ☺

I find the easiest way to find special characters is not the character map, as it is pretty large, instead I use Libre Office Writer, from the insert menu select special character. The first screen you see has probably the most of what you'd want.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...One can, for instance, type the character à by holding down Ctrl+Shft and then typing U00e0...

Thank you! This is the first set of directions on using U codes I've ever been able to make sense of!

[rene]

It's a mystery to me why anyone would want to do that. I to anyone with a physical US-layout keyboard advise the software layout altgr-intl, i.e., "English (intl., with AltGr dead keys)".

It is an as far as I'm aware proper superset of the plain "English (US)" layout which is to say that all that works with latter works with former (so that you don't have to unlearn anything) and e.g. á is on it available both directly on AltGr-a as well as on AltGr-' and then a, i.e., composed, so not forgettable.