Keyboard characters. How to type characters and signs that are not on the keyboard

The main device for manual input of information, commands and data. This article describes its structure and layout, hot keys, symbols and signs.

Computer keyboard: operating principle

Basic keyboard functions do not require special software. The drivers necessary for its operation are already available in the BIOS ROM. Therefore, the computer responds to commands from the main keyboard keys immediately after turning on.

The operating principle of the keyboard is as follows:

1. After pressing a key, the keyboard chip generates a scan code.
2. The scan code enters a port integrated into the motherboard.
3. The keyboard port reports a fixed-number interrupt to the processor.
4. Having received a fixed interrupt number, the processor contacts a special interrupt. an area of ​​RAM containing an interrupt vector - a list of data. Each entry in the data list contains the address of the program servicing the interrupt, which matches the entry number.
5. Having determined the program entry, the processor proceeds to execute it.
6. The interrupt handler program then directs the processor to the keyboard port, where it finds the scan code. Next, under the control of the processor, the processor determines which character corresponds to this scan code.
7. The handler sends code to the keyboard buffer, notifying the processor, and then stops working.
8. The processor moves on to the pending task.
9. The entered character is stored in the keyboard buffer until it is picked up by the program for which it is intended, for example, the text editor Microsoft Word.

Photo of a computer keyboard and the purpose of the keys

A standard keyboard has more than 100 keys, divided into functional groups. Below is photo of the keyboard computer with a description of key groups.

Alphanumeric keys

Alphanumeric keys are used to enter information and commands typed by letter. Each of the keys can work in different registers and also represent several characters.

Switching case (entering lowercase and uppercase characters) is carried out by holding the Shift key. For hard (permanent) case switching, Caps Lock is used.

If the computer keyboard is used to enter text data, the paragraph is closed by pressing the Enter key. Next, data entry begins on a new line. When the keyboard is used to enter commands, Enter ends the input and begins execution.

Function keys

The function keys are located at the top of the keyboard and consist of 12 buttons F1 – F12. Their functions and properties depend on the running program, and in some cases the operating system.

A common function in many programs is the F1 key, which calls up help, where you can find out the functions of other buttons.

Special keys

Special keys are located next to the alphanumeric group of buttons. Due to the fact that users often resort to using them, they have an increased size. These include:

1. Shift and Enter discussed earlier.
2. Alt and Ctrl – used in combination with other keyboard keys to form special commands.
3. Tab is used for tabulation when typing text.
4. Win – opens the Start menu.
5. Esc – refusal to use the started operation.
6. BACKSPACE – deleting the characters just entered.
7. Print Screen – prints the current screen or saves a snapshot of it to the clipboard.
8. Scroll Lock – switches the operating mode in some programs.
9. Pause/Break – pause/interrupt the current process.

Cursor keys

The cursor keys are located to the right of the alphanumeric pad. Cursor is a screen element indicating the location for entering information. The directional keys move the cursor in the direction of the arrows.

Additional keys:

1. Page Up/Page Down – move the cursor to page up/down.
2. Home and End – move the cursor to the beginning or end of the current line.
3. Insert – traditionally switches the data input mode between insertion and replacement. In different programs, the action of the Insert button may be different.

Additional numeric keypad

The additional numeric keyboard duplicates the actions of the numeric and some other keys of the main input panel. To use it, you must first enable the Num Lock button. Also, the additional keyboard keys can be used to control the cursor.

Keyboard shortcut

When you press a certain key combination, a particular command is executed for the computer.

Commonly used keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl + Shift + Esc – open the Task Manager.
• Ctrl + F – search window in the active program.
• Ctrl + A – selects all content in the open window.
• Ctrl + C – copy the selected fragment.
• Ctrl + V – paste from the clipboard.
• Ctrl + P — prints the current document.
• Ctrl + Z – cancels the current action.
• Ctrl + X – cut the selected section of text.
• Ctrl + Shift + → selecting text by words (starting from the cursor position).
• Ctrl + Esc - opens/closes the Start menu.
• Alt + Printscreen – screenshot of the active program window.
• Alt + F4 – closes the active application.
• Shift + Delete – permanently delete an object (past the trash can).
• Shift + F10 – call the context menu of the active object.
• Win + Pause – system properties.
• Win + E – launches Explorer.
• Win + D – minimizes all open windows.
• Win + F1 – opens Windows Help.
• Win + F – opens the search window.
• Win + L – lock the computer.
• Win + R – open “Run a program”.

Keyboard symbols

Surely, many users have noticed symbols for nicknames and other social networks. How to make symbols on the keyboard if there are no explicit keys for this?

You can place characters on the keyboard using Alt codes - additional commands for entering hidden characters. These commands are entered by simply pressing Alt + a decimal number.

You can often come across questions: how to make a heart on the keyboard, an infinity sign or a euro on the keyboard?

• alt + 3 =
• Alt+8734 = ∞
• Alt + 0128 = €

These and other keyboard symbols are presented in the following tables in the form of pictures. The “Alt code” column contains a numeric value, after entering which, in combination with the Alt key, a certain character will be displayed. The symbol column contains the final result.

Please note that if the additional numeric keypad is not enabled - Num Lock is not pressed, then the Alt + number key combination may lead to unexpected results.

For example, if you press Alt + 4 in the browser without Num Lock enabled, the previous page will open.

Punctuation marks on the keyboard

Sometimes users, when trying to put a punctuation mark on the keyboard, do not get exactly what they expected. This is due to the fact that different keyboard layouts imply different use of key combinations.

Below we discuss how to put punctuation marks on the keyboard.

Punctuation marks with Cyrillic alphabet

• " (quotes) - Shift + 2
• № (number) - Shift + 3
• ; (semicolon) - Shift + 4
• % (percentage) - Shift + 5
• : (colon) - Shift + 6
• ? (question mark) - Shift + 7
• ((open bracket) - Shift + 9
• – (dash) – button labeled “-”
• , (comma) - Shift + “period”
• + (plus) – Shift + button with plus sign “+”
• . (dot) – button to the right of the letter “U”

Latin punctuation marks

• ~ (tilde) - Shift + Yo
• ! (exclamation mark) - Shift + 1
• @ (dog - used in email address) - Shift + 2
• # (hash) - Shift + 3
• $ (dollar) – Shift + 4
• % (percentage) - Shift + 5
• ^ — Shift + 6
• & (ampersand) - Shift + 7
• * (multiply or asterisk) - Shift + 8
• ((open bracket) - Shift + 9
• ) (close bracket) - Shift + 0
• – (dash) – key on the keyboard labeled “-”
• + (plus) - Shift and +
• = (equal) – equal sign button
• , (comma) – key with the Russian letter “B”
• . (dot) - key with the Russian letter “Yu”
• < (левая угловая скобка) — Shift + Б
• > (right angle bracket) - Shift + Yu
• ? (question mark) – Shift + button with a question mark (to the right of “Y”)
• ; (semicolon) – letter “F”
• : (colon) – Shift + “F”
• [ (left square bracket) – Russian letter “X”
• ] (right square bracket) – “Ъ”
• ( (left curly brace) – Shift + Russian letter “X”
• ) (right curly brace) – Shift + “Ъ”

Computer keyboard layout

Computer keyboard layout— a scheme for assigning symbols of national alphabets to specific keys. Switching the keyboard layout is done programmatically - one of the functions of the operating system.

In Windows, you can change the keyboard layout by pressing Alt + Shift or Ctrl + Shift. Typical keyboard layouts are English and Russian.

If necessary, you can change or add a keyboard language in Windows 7 by going to Start – Control Panel – Clock, language and region (sub-item “change keyboard layout or other input methods”).

In the window that opens, select the “Languages ​​and keyboards” tab - “Change keyboard”. Then, in a new window, on the “General” tab, click “Add” and select the required input language. Don't forget to save your changes by clicking OK.

Virtual computer keyboard

The virtual keyboard is a separate program or an add-on included in the software. With its help, you can enter letters and symbols from the computer screen using the mouse cursor. Those. During the typing process, the computer keyboard is not involved.

A virtual keyboard is needed, for example, to protect confidential data (login and password). When entering data using a regular keyboard, there is a risk of information being intercepted by malicious spyware. Then, via the Internet, the information is transmitted to the attacker.

You can find and download a virtual keyboard using search engines - it won’t take much of your time. If Kaspersky anti-virus is installed on your PC, you can launch the virtual keyboard through the main program window; it is included in it.

Screen keyboard

On-screen keyboard is a keyboard on the touch screen of a smartphone, which is pressed with the user’s fingers. Sometimes the on-screen keyboard is called a virtual keyboard.

Also, the on-screen keyboard on your computer is included in the list of Windows accessibility features. If you have stopped typing, suddenly turned off, etc., the on-screen keyboard for Windows will come to the rescue.

To launch the on-screen keyboard in Windows 7, go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - then Accessibility - On-Screen Keyboard. It looks like this.

To switch the keyboard layout, use the corresponding buttons on the taskbar (near the date and time, at the bottom left of the monitor screen).

What to do if the keyboard does not work

If your keyboard suddenly stops working, don’t rush to get upset, first find out what caused the breakdown. All the reasons why the keyboard does not work can be divided into hardware and software.

In the first case, if the keyboard hardware is broken, fixing the problem without special skills is very problematic. Sometimes it’s easier to replace it with a new one.

Before you say goodbye to a seemingly faulty keyboard, check the cable with which it is connected to the system unit. It may have come off a little. If everything is fine with the cable, make sure that the breakdown is not caused by a software glitch in the computer. To do this, restart your PC.

If after a reboot the keyboard shows no signs of life, try to wake it up using the solution available in Windows. The sequence of actions is given using Windows 7 as an example; if you have a different version of the Windows operating system, proceed by analogy. The principle is approximately the same, the names of the menu sections may differ slightly.

Go to Start - Control Panel - Hardware and Sound - Device Manager. In the window that opens, if you have problems with your keyboard, it will be marked with a yellow label with an exclamation mark. Select it with the mouse and select Action – Delete from the menu. After uninstallation, close Device Manager.

Return to the Hardware and Sound tab and select Add a Device. After searching for equipment, your keyboard will be found and its drivers will be installed.

If the hardware installation was successful and the keyboard failure was due to a software glitch, the Num Lock key indicator on the keyboard will light up.

If the problem cannot be resolved, then a temporary solution may be.

These days, a computer keyboard, like a mouse, is considered a low-value device. However, it plays an important role in working with a computer.

Every computer user, especially those who actively use social networks, has wondered: what are special characters and where to find them on the keyboard? The answer to this question is not something complicated. The thing is that the keyboard displays only frequently used symbols: letters, punctuation marks, arithmetic operations.

But there are many other symbols in the world. And to use them, you need to know some concepts. Such characters are called special. Their difference is that they are more comic than truly useful.

How to enter special characters from the keyboard?

First, let’s look at the simplest and most understandable input of special characters that are already located on the device’s keyboard. To do this, hold down the Shift key and select the desired symbol.

But do not forget that for convenience, the symbols are separated from each other by keyboard layouts. Therefore, pay attention to the location of the sign relative to the main one.

We use special characters when creating passwords

Many users have wondered how to create a strong password. To do this, you don’t need to create huge sets of different letters, numbers and punctuation marks; just use an unusual icon. So how do you use special characters on your keyboard for a password?

To use a special character when entering a password, you must enable NumLock. After this, you should hold down the Alt key and “+”, then type the required set of characters and get the sign we need. But in the password itself it will not be registered as a special character, but will be written in the encoding necessary for this.

Using Unicode on the Windows 10 keyboard

To use special characters on the Windows 10 keyboard, you need to go to the taskbar and request a table in the search bar. And after that launch this application.

In the table that opens, you can select a font. To copy a symbol, double-click on it and click “Copy” in the bottom line. You can also select the character set language.

Enter special characters using the keyboard

The most practical way to type characters is a combination of the Alt key and the desired Unicode. Special characters on the Alt keyboard will be discussed in the table below.

But before you learn about them, you need to understand the principle of entering these characters. To enter the character we need, press the Alt key, then press “+” on the right side of the keyboard and type the numeric command in which the desired character is encrypted.

Tables of special characters for describing text

Now, let’s actually look at what some special characters look like. Many of them are used infrequently.

Table of special symbols - arrows

And these special characters are perfect for any schemes. This table is worth having on hand.

Punctuation table

Well, you can’t do without these signs when writing articles. They are familiar to everyone without exception.

Table of arithmetic signs

Such signs are a godsend for a mathematician. None of them can be written down without their help.

Table of Latin, Greek and Hebrew letters

Not many people, of course, will use these signs when working with a computer. However, knowing about them will not hurt for overall development.

Additional symbol table

Here are some other helpful signs. Perhaps they will be useful to you someday too

Finally

There are many symbols in the world that computer users need to use for their purposes. It is impossible to know all of them. After all, humanity over its centuries-old history has created more than a million different codes and other types of information encoded in images, but there are tables of special characters that are available to all users.

These signs have a huge scope, so many will have to deal with them. Entering special characters from the keyboard is not difficult. The main thing is to be able to use the capabilities of your device, and this will allow you to use various special characters for your own purposes.

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.

There are times when you need to use characters that are not on the keyboard. For example, all sorts of crosses, stars and hearts in statuses or nicknames on social networks, such as VKontakte or Facebook. This article describes in detail how to type such characters.

And so, just below you will see two ways, the first is to type such characters on a computer using codes with the Alt key, and the second way to type on an Android tablet or smartphone, which is also necessary. And just below you will learn how to type the ruble sign on the keyboard.

A set of symbols and signs on the keyboard.

There is such a wonderful key - "Alt". It is often used, for example, when using keyboard shortcuts in other programs, such as . But today we need it for other cases, namely, for typing various symbols and signs that are not on the keyboard. Below you will see a list of codes and opposite symbols. You just need to hold down the Alt key and on the right side of the keyboard type the code that corresponds to the character you need.

If these buttons do not work, then you need to turn on the NumPad, to do this you need to press the Num Lock key, otherwise the NumPad buttons will work as controls for you.

As you can see, everything is simple.

Character codes with Alt key. So, how do you enter characters on the keyboard with the Alt key? Everything is much simpler than it seems. In order to enter a character, you need to hold down the Alt key and type numbers on the NumPad.

After which you can omit the Alt key, but the main question arises: what numbers should you enter to get the desired character? This is where the list of Alt character codes below will come to your aid. The list is considerable; it contains various symbols from hearts and crosses to zodiac signs.

Alt symbol table:

How to type the ruble symbol on the keyboard?

If you need a ruble sign, then you probably already noticed that it is not found anywhere on the keys, let's figure out how to enter the ruble sign.

In Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and Windows 7, you can also type the ruble sign using the Alt key. To do this you need to press and hold right Alt + 8. If you can’t type the ruble sign in Windows 7, then the update may not be installed, just update the system through Windows Update.

Also, you can just copy the ruble sign here - ?.

Symbols of the zodiac signs.

You can simply select these symbols of the zodiac signs, copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) to the desired place, either from a computer or from a mobile device.

Twins.

Scorpion.

Sagittarius.

Capricorn.

Aquarius.

Character set on an Android device.

If you are using a tablet or smartphone on Android, then it is even easier to enter characters here, because you do not need to use any codes. The default keyboard (usually the Google keyboard) is of course good and convenient, but there is a more universal analogue “Hackers Keyboard”. This keyboard has many characters that can be entered without codes. This keyboard is completely free and is available on the Play Market.

Now you can type characters that are not on the keyboard, thanks to the Alt character table, you also learned how to type the ruble sign and enter symbols on an Android device. That's all, if you have any questions or have anything to add, please comment.