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How to make different symbols on the keyboard. How to put characters on the keyboard. Additional characters on the keyboard

The keyboard with which we type text has quite a few keys. And each of them is needed for something. In this lesson we will talk about their purpose and learn how to use them correctly.

Here is a photo of a regular computer keyboard:

Keyboard button meanings

Esc. The full name of this key is Escape (pronounced "Escape") and it means "Exit". Using it we can close some programs. This applies to a greater extent to computer games.

F1-F12. In the same row as Esc there are several buttons whose names begin with the Latin letter F. They are designed to control the computer without the help of a mouse - only with the keyboard. Thanks to them, you can open and close folders and files, change their names, copy and much more.

But knowing the meaning of each of these buttons is completely unnecessary - most people have been using computers for decades and have no idea about any of them.

Immediately below the F1-F12 keys there is a row of buttons with numbers and signs (! " " No.; % : ? *, etc.).

If you simply click on one of them, the drawn number will be printed. But to print a sign, press the Shift button along with it (bottom left or right).

If the character printed is not the one you need, try changing the language (bottom right of the screen) -

By the way, on many keyboards the numbers are also on the right side. The photo shows this part separately.

They are laid out exactly like on a calculator and are more convenient for many people.

But sometimes these numbers don’t work. You press the desired key, but nothing is printed. This means that the numeric portion of the keyboard is turned off. To turn it on, simply press the Num Lock button once.

The most important part of the keyboard is the keys that are used to type text. They are located in the center.

As a rule, each button has two letters - one foreign, the other Russian. To type a letter in the desired language, make sure it is selected correctly (at the bottom of the computer screen).

You can also change the language in another way - by clicking on two buttons at once: Shift And Alt or Shift And Ctrl

Win. The key that opens the Start button. Most often, it is not signed, but simply has a Windows icon on it. Located between the Ctrl and Alt buttons.

Fn. The laptop has this key - as a rule, it is not found on regular keyboards. It is designed to work with special functions - increasing/decreasing brightness, volume and others.

To turn them on, you need to press the Fn key and, while holding it, press the button with the required function. These buttons are usually located at the top - at F1-F10.

Let's say I need to increase the brightness of my laptop screen. To do this, I look for a button on the keyboard with the corresponding picture. For example, I have F6 - there is a sun drawn on it. So, I hold down the Fn key and then press F6. The screen becomes a little brighter. To increase the brightness even more, I press F6 again along with Fn.

How to print a capital letter

To print one large letter (capital), you need to hold down the Shift key and click on the desired letter together.

How to type a period and a comma

If the Russian alphabet is installed, then in order to print point, you need to press the last key in the bottom letter row (on the right). It is located in front of the Shift button.

To print comma, press the same button while holding Shift.

When the English alphabet is selected, to print a dot you need to press the key that is located before the Russian dot. The letter "Y" is usually written on it. And the comma in the English alphabet is where the Russian letter “B” is (before the English dot).

Text decoration buttons

Tab - creates an indent at the beginning of a sentence. In other words, you can use it to make a paragraph (red line).

To do this, click the mouse at the beginning of the text and press the Tab key once. If the red line is adjusted correctly, the text will move slightly to the right.

Used for printing large letters. Located under the Tab key.

Press Caps Lock once and release it. Try typing a word. All letters will be printed in capitals. To cancel this feature, press the Caps Lock key once again and release it. Letters, as before, will be printed small.

(space) - makes spaces between words. The longest button on the keyboard is located under the letter keys.

According to the design rules, there should be only one space between words (not three or even two). It is not correct to align or shift text using this key. Also, a space is placed only after a punctuation mark - there should be no space before a space sign (with the exception of a dash).

Delete button. It erases those letters that are printed in front of the flashing stick (cursor). It is located on the right side, immediately after the numbers/signs. Often there is no inscription on it at all, but simply an arrow drawn to the left.

The Backspace button is also used to raise text higher.

Enter - is intended to go to the next line.

Thanks to her, you can omit the text below. Enter is located under the delete text button.

Additional keys

These are keys such as Insert, Home, Page Up and Page Down, arrow buttons and others. They are located between the alphabetic and numeric keyboards. Used to work with text without using the mouse.

You can use the arrows to move the blinking cursor (flashing stick) across the text.

Delete is used to delete. True, unlike the Backspace key, it deletes letters not before, but after the blinking cursor.

The Home button moves the blinking cursor to the beginning of the line, and the End button moves it to the end.

Page Up moves the blinking cursor to the beginning of the page, and Page Down (Pg Dn) moves the blinking cursor to the end of the page.

The Insert button is needed to print text over existing text. If you click on it, new text will be printed, erasing the old one. To cancel this, you need to press the Insert key again.

The Scroll Lock key is almost always completely useless - it simply doesn't work. And in theory it should serve to scroll text up and down - just like the wheel on a computer mouse does.

Pause/Break almost never works either. In general, it is designed to suspend an ongoing computer process.

All of these buttons are optional and are rarely or never used by people.

But the button can be very useful.

She takes a photo of the screen. Then this picture can be inserted into Word or Paint. In computer language, such a photograph of the screen is called a screenshot.

Keyboard buttons to remember

— if you press this button and, without releasing it, press another key with a letter, the letter will be printed in capital. In the same way, you can print a symbol instead of a number: No! () * ? « + etc.

— after pressing this button once, all letters will be printed in capital letters. You don't need to hold it for this. To return to printing in small letters, press Caps Lock again.

— indents (red line).

- space. Using this button you can add space between words.

- drops to a line below. To do this, you need to place a flashing stick (blinking cursor) at the beginning of the part of the text that you want to move down, and press the Enter button.

— deletes the character before the blinking cursor. In other words, it erases text. This button also moves the text up a line. To do this, you need to place a flashing stick (blinking cursor) at the beginning of the part of the text that you want to move to the top, and press Backspace.

All other keyboard buttons, except letters, numbers and symbols, are used extremely rarely or not at all.

Many have seen unusual and beautiful symbols decorating a name, message or social media page, but few know where they come from.

In the Windows operating system, characters that are not on the keyboard are encrypted as numbers. Pressing a number in combination with the Alt key produces a special character that will change depending on the number.

Inserting hidden characters

Many people ask the question: “How to enter characters that are not on the keyboard?” This can be done in various ways:

  • using a symbol table;
  • combinations of Alt with numbers;
  • copying from the Internet;
  • copying from text editing software (Microsoft Office);
  • special online services.

symbol table

Above is a table of symbols that are not on the keyboard. With its help, you can easily insert the symbol you like into the text and copy it to social networks.

How to open a symbol table

Opening a symbol table is very simple. The first thing you need to do is click “Start” and enter the phrase “Symbol table” in the computer search window.

Next step: click on the found phrase.

The symbol table can be easily found by knowing its location in the system. The path is as follows:

  1. "Start".
  2. All programs.
  3. Standard.
  4. Service.
  5. Symbol table.

In order not to constantly perform many operations and mouse clicks, you can pin the link to the table on the “Taskbar” or in the “Start” menu. This is done like this: hover the cursor over the icon of the open program on the lower taskbar, press the right mouse button to open additional functions, then use the left mouse button to click on the penultimate line (pin the program).

Using the symbol table

In the table you can change the font, view help, and also copy any of the presented characters to the clipboard. To copy them, double-click on the one you like and click on the “Copy” button. To insert into text, you need to place the cursor in the part of the text in which you want to place the element, click on the "Insert" menu, called up with the right mouse button. Or do the same using Ctrl and V.

Additional Symbol Table Options

The functionality of the program in question contains additional parameters, to enable which you need to check the appropriate box. The checkbox is located under the "For copying" line. The main advantage of additional parameters is the presence of "Grouping". It allows you to very quickly search for the required element to insert into the text by category (monetary, punctuation, arrows, numeric, technical). For grouping to work correctly, Unicode ranges must be present.

For example, you can take the infinity sign. To find it, you need to go to the grouping and select the desired category (for the infinity sign - these are mathematical operators). Double-click on it and copy it to the clipboard.

Alt key and number combinations

In order for the symbol you need to appear on the screen, you need to click on the indicated number while holding down Alt. In order not to lose such a useful table, it is recommended to add it to your browser bookmarks or save it to your computer. For example, the combination of Alt and 1 produces the smiley symbol.

Copying from the Web

A very popular way to obtain the necessary characters that are not on the keyboard is to copy them from the Internet. This method is very simple and understandable for everyone, it consists of 2 steps:

  • finding the desired symbol or emoticon by creating a request in the search bar of the browser;
  • copy and paste to the desired location (text, message, status).

Symbols from Microsoft Office Word

You can also find original characters that are not on the keyboard in the very popular software from Microsoft Office Word. This method is similar to that described earlier. Its essence lies in the fact that first we open the Word program (it is installed on almost every computer), look for the “Insert” tab, and in the menu we find the “Insert Symbol” button. After this, a window appears with a huge number of different symbols. In order to take the symbol you like from Word and paste it into another place, you need to paste the required symbol onto an empty sheet of Word, then select it and copy it (copying can be done using the Ctrl and C key combination).

Online services

Online services that provide the ability to quickly and conveniently select and copy your favorite symbol, emoticon or sign will help you diversify your page on VKontakte, tweets and posts on Facebook, and simply please your chat interlocutor.

Everything here is very simple and clear. Each button is a specific symbol. After clicking on any of them, the selected symbol appears in the window at the top. Below the window there are buttons with which you can change characters (font, size) or perform some action (copy, tweet, etc.). When you click Copy, the character(s) in the selection window are copied to your computer's clipboard. Only then does the user insert them into the message from the buffer.

Categories of hidden characters

All existing symbols that are not on the keyboard can be divided into the following categories:

  • numbers;
  • fractions;
  • Zodiac signs;
  • musical notes;
  • symbols representing weather or precipitation;
  • card;
  • chess;
  • snowflakes;
  • flowers;
  • emotions;
  • arrows;
  • others.

No computer or laptop user can do without alphabetic characters on the keyboard, entered using the appropriate keys. Almost every key has 2 letters - English at the top and Russian at the bottom, i.e. The keyboard has 26 letters of the English alphabet and 33 letters of the Russian alphabet. Moreover, these can be both lowercase and uppercase letters, which are typed using the Shift key.

There are punctuation marks in both English and Russian layouts, although they are located in different places on the keyboard. It is convenient when working with Russian text that a period and a comma are the same key, which is located in the bottom row of the most recent letter keys. Only the comma is typed in combination with the Shift key. And in the English layout, a dot is a key with the Russian letter Y, and a comma is B. So, to enter these punctuation marks, you do not need to switch from one font to another.

We use digital signs or numbers not only for calculations, but also in text to indicate various numerical data. In this case, you can use both the upper numeric row of the keyboard and the additional numeric pad (small numeric keypad) located on the right side of the keyboard.

The basic signs of arithmetic operations (plus “+”, minus “-”, multiplication “*”, division “/”), located on the small numeric keypad by analogy with a familiar calculator, so they are convenient to use when making calculations. But if you just need to print the equal sign “=”, and not find out the result of the calculations, then you will not find such a sign there. It is located in the top number row after the number 0, one key later.

What frequently used characters are on the keyboard?

If you look closely at the keyboard, you can see that many characters are hidden in the number row and on the right side of the letter rows, the last keys. To enter characters instead of letters or numbers when printing, you need to switch to upper case using the Shift key.

If you go in order, starting with the number 1, then in this way when printing Russian texts you enter:

1) exclamation point “!”;
2) opening and closing quotation marks at the beginning and end of the phrase “...”;
3) then, if necessary, the number sign “No”;
4) semicolon “;”;
5) "%";
6) colon “:”;
7) question mark “?”;
8) the asterisk “*”, which is also used as a multiplication sign in computer calculations;
9) round opening “(”;
10) round closing bracket “)” on the key with the number 0;
11) a hyphen and a “-” sign – in the computer version they look the same. The dash character (longer) appears automatically using spaces before and after this character in text programs or is entered using a special code.
12) the = sign and the + sign in upper case, i.e. in combination with the Shift key.

It is noteworthy that the exclamation point, %, *, parentheses are found in both Russian and English keyboard layouts on the same keys.

But some characters exist only in the English layout. For example, square […] and curly (…) brackets, which are located on keys with the Russian letters X (opening) and Ъ (closing), “>” (key with the Russian letter Yu) and less “Rarely used characters on the keyboard

In everyday life, an ordinary user rarely has to use characters that exist only in the English layout: different versions of quotation marks “…”, '…’, `…`, dash “|”, forward “/” and backslash “\” slash, tilde “~ " But the paragraph sign “§” or the degree “°” would be nice , but they are not on the keyboard. You have to enter some characters into the text in a different way.

If you are typing in another language (for example, German), there are ways to quickly enter diacritics (diacritics), namely the marks above (less often below) letters. The specific method for entering diacritics depends on the program in which the text is typed, and this article describes the most common methods.


Note: To use the methods here, you must switch your keyboard layout to English. Keep in mind that some keyboards have letter keys with accent marks.

Steps

Entering diacritics in Windows

    Use keyboard shortcuts (shortcut keys). They are available on most modern Windows computers in Microsoft Word. Keyboard shortcuts are generally easier to remember than ASCII codes, which are also used to enter diacritics.

    Press Ctrl + ` to enter gravity. Hold down the Ctrl key, and then press the ` key, which is located in the upper left corner of the keyboard. Release the keys. Then press the key with the desired letter.

    • Typically, the "`" character is located on the same key as the "~" (tilde) character. This is not an apostrophe key.

  1. Press Ctrl + " to enter an accent. Hold Ctrl and then press the """ (apostrophe) key next to the Enter key. Release the keys. Then press the key with the desired letter.

    Press Ctrl, then press Shift, then press 6, and finally press the letter key to enter the circumflex (“cap”).

    Hold Ctrl and Shift, and then press the number 6 key. Release the keys and press the key with the desired letter. The number 6 key is used because of the "^" symbol found on this key. The "~" (tilde) character is on the same key as the "`" character, which is used to enter gravity. Don't forget to hold down the Shift key, otherwise you will enter gravis instead of a tilde. Release the keys and press the key with the desired letter.

    Press Shift + Ctrl +: to enter the umlaut. The key with the “:” (colon) symbol is located next to the key with the “’” (apostrophe) symbol. Remember to hold down the Shift key, otherwise you will enter a semicolon instead of an umlaut. Release the keys and press the key with the desired letter.

    Enter capital letters with accents in the same way. But change the order of your keystrokes: first press Ctrl + (symbol key), then press Shift, and then press the letter key you want. A capital letter with a superscript character will be entered.

Alt codes in Windows (ASCII codes)

    Use Alt codes. To do this, you will need a separate numeric keypad, which is located on the right side of the standard keyboard. ASCII codes are applicable in Microsoft Office programs. These codes are not supported by all Windows compatible programs, so check each program to see if it works with Alt codes.

    Hold down the Alt key. There are many number codes, but remember that in order to apply them, you must first hold down the Alt key. Keep the key pressed until you finish entering the numeric code.

    On the numeric keypad, enter the code corresponding to a specific diacritic.

    1. The following codes are used to enter gravity:
    • a = 0224; А = 0192
    • и = 0232; È = 0200
    • м = 0236; М = 0204
    • ò = 0242; Ò = 0210
    • ù = 0249; Ù = 0217
    1. The following codes are used to enter an accent (accent):
    • á = 0225; Á = 0193
    • é = 0233; É = 0201
    • í = 0237; Í = 0205
    • ó = 0243; Ó = 0211
    • ú = 0250; Ú = 0218
    • ý = 0253; Ý = 0221
    1. The following codes are used to enter the circumflex:
    • â = 0226; Â = 0194
    • ê = 0234; Ê = 0202
    • î = 0238; Î = 0206
    • ô = 0244; Ô = 0212
    • û = 0251; Û = 0219
    1. The following codes are used to enter a tilde:
    • ã = 0227; Ã = 0195
    • ñ = 0241; Ñ ​​= 0209
    • õ = 0245; Õ = 0213
    1. The following codes are used to enter the umlaut:
    • ä = 0228; Ä = 0196
    • ë = 0235; Ë = 0203
    • ï = 0239; Ï = 0207
    • ö = 0246; Ö = 0214
    • ü = 0252; Ü = 0220
    • ÿ = 0255; Ÿ = 0159

  1. Release the Alt key. The superscript will appear above the corresponding letter (as shown in the previous step). The codes can be well memorized after some practice because there are quite a lot of them. If you often enter diacritics, make a cheat sheet and keep it near your computer so you can quickly find the code you need. If you constantly work with letters with superscripts, add appropriate keyboard layouts, which will increase your typing speed.

Entering diacritics in Mac OS X

    Use keyboard shortcuts to enter accents on a Mac OS X computer. This method works in Pages and in a web browser. First, you need to hold down the Option key and then press a combination of two other keys to enter a specific superscript character.

    Press Option + ` and then press the letter key you want to type gravis. Hold Option and press the "`" key. Release the keys. The screen will display a superscript highlighted in yellow. Then press the key with the desired letter. Gravis can be placed over any vowel letter.

    Press Option+E and then press the letter key you want to type an accent. Hold Option and press the letter "E" key. Release the keys. The screen will display a superscript highlighted in yellow. Then press the key with the desired letter. An accent can be placed above any vowel.

    Press Option + I and then press the letter key you want to type circumflex. Hold Option and press the letter "I" key. Release the keys. Then press the key with the desired letter. The circumflex can be placed over any vowel.

    Press Option+N and then press the letter key you want to type a tilde. Hold Option and press the letter "N" key. Release the keys. Then press the key with the desired letter. A tilde can be placed above the letters A, N, O.

    Press Option+U and then press the letter key you want to type umlaut. Hold Option and press the letter "U" key. Release the keys. Then press the key with the desired letter.

    Hold Shift to enter a capital letter with a superscript. Do this before pressing other keyboard shortcuts. As a rule, if the desired letter is at the beginning of a sentence, it is automatically changed to capital.

Copying and pasting letters with diacritics

    Learn diacritics first. It is necessary to enter letters with specific accent marks because the wrong diacritic can completely change the meaning of some words. The most common superscripts used in European languages ​​are the following:

    • Gravis – à, è, m, ò, ù
    • Acute – á, é, í, ó, ú, ý
    • Circumflex – â, ê, î, ô, û
    • Tilde – ñ, õ, ã
    • Umlaut – ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ

  1. Find an example of the letter or word you need. This can be done in an existing document, in a symbol table, or on the Internet. If you are looking for a word that includes a letter with a superscript on the Internet, copy the word directly from an online resource.

For most computer programs designed for text editing, there are special characters or symbols that can be easily inserted into documents using a character table or by pressing a combination of the well-known Alt key and a sequence of 10 numbers on Num Lock.

Not all computer users know about these functions, but there are often times when the use of such key combinations that are not visible on the keyboard becomes necessary. In order not to panic, you should familiarize yourself in detail with the hidden capabilities of text editors.

Where can I see special characters?

In order to view the special characters available for permanent use, you need to go to the Start or “Start” menu, then open the “All Programs” tab, then “Standard”, “Service”, and at the end find the “Character Table” item and select it.

In the small window that opens you can see all the special symbols, there are about three thousand of them. In addition, if necessary, characters from the designated table can be quickly copied to the clipboard in order to then transfer it to the document being edited. In order to carry out this action, you need to select the required font, then select the character of interest from the list, click on “Copy” or Copy. In the edited text, you need to position the mouse cursor at the place where you want to put the symbol, and paste it using the appropriate Ctrl+V command.

Using Alt Code

Special characters can also be typed by pressing several keys on the numeric part of the Num Lock keyboard, but this is necessary while holding down the Alt key, located on both the left and right sides of the keyboard. To do this, first of all you need to turn on the numbering mode (press the Num Lock key - the indicator should light up). Then you can safely move on to typing the required code. While holding down the Alt button, you need to enter the code of the desired character on the numeric keypad, consisting of a sequence of several numbers, and then release Alt.

Why is knowledge of special characters in Alt code useful?

Your last name or first name will look non-standard if you write them with beautiful symbols “to your liking,” for example, on social networks such as VKontakte. One of the most popular symbols is the Euro - €. In this case, you will need the combination “Alt + 0136”. The following character on the keyboard is considered almost irreplaceable - “paragraph” - § (Alt + 0167).

It will be useful for website developers to learn how to “make” a “trademark” sign in a text document: ™. To do this, type “Alt + 0153”. There are also other combinations of numbers that are responsible for characters that differ in the English and Russian keyboard layouts. Some of them are unique, so they are available for entry by applying the appropriate
Alt code