How to slash the number zero

The slashed zero is not really some special character. It is just that some fonts do it that way and some don't. You need to use one that does. If you go to Character Viewer, View=Roman, Category=Digits and select the zero and go down to the Font Variation pane, you can see which fonts which have it with a slash.

You can make something that looks like a slashed zero by adding a combining slash (Unicode 337) to a zero, but that is really two characters and may not always behave as you expect. 0̷

I don't think you can make that slash from the keyboard, you have to use the Character Viewer.

Let me try that and see if it works:

0̷

Yes!

It's a little hard to understand the final step of "find 337 and double click on it."

According to Tom, "After you type a zero you go the Character Viewer (Edit > Special Characters), View=Code Tables, Tab=Unicode, *find 337 and double click on it*.

Here's how to do that last part:

In the far-left column, where it says "Unicode," scroll down to "00000300." Single click that line, which is titled "Combining Diacritical Marks." Then, in the box that appears below, on the line called "0330" (fourth line down) find the "7" on the column list, and then double click on the "slash" that's at the intersection of "0330" and "7" in the grid.

Your 0 will magically transform into a 0̷ !!!!

How do I add a combining slash (Unicode 337) to a zero ?

After you type a zero you go the Character Viewer (Edit > Special Characters), View=Code Tables, Tab=Unicode, find 337 and double click on it.

That seems quite time consuming. Although I don't quite understand all the directions below -- perhaps this is clear to someone else -- I wonder if this would work to make a keyboard shortcut, if not for the whole figure, at least to add the slash?

http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/index_files/the-input-menu-and-character-viewer.html

+To create a keyboard shortcut for it, open up Automator (in the Applications folder) and create a new Service. Add the “Run Applescript” action, and paste the following lines in:+

+tell application "CharacterPalette"+
activate
+end tell+


+Change the “text” drop-down menu to “no input,” then save the Service. You can then add the keyboard shortcut from the Keyboard section of System Preferences.+

ØØ Helvetica and Arial have the character also. use the option,shift and the O letter
Ø

That's not a slashed zero, it's the Capital O with Stroke used in Danish and Norwegian.

I'm not quite sure. the only thing I can imagine is the "average" sign, and that is exactly the one you posted.

anyway, in almost any application you can press cmd altT to get to the "special characters" palette. if the combination doesn't work it's found under the "edit" menubar item

Character viewer>Symbols>Mathematical Symbols. For easy access, keep the Character Viewer in your MenuBar.

Just drag it over from the Viewer to where you want it. Not as fast as a keyboard shortcut, but pretty fast. Example: IEPO1∅∅∅678456

You could put a shortcut for that in system prefs/language & text/text/symbol and text substitution. Just copy paste the 0̷ in the "with" column of a new entry.

Pages doesn't use that, but you could do the same thing in Pages > Preferences > Autocorrection

I should have known that; many years ago, as a teenager in the late fifties -- I'm showing my age -- I was a Ham with call sign W2L** since appropriated by someone else, no doubt.

About getting the Text Substitution to work: I just went through this but haven't figured it all out yet. This is what I've worked out so far: You set up the substitution first in Sys Prefs, then from the app (I used TextEdit; it only works for certain Apple apps e.g., iChat, iPhoto, Mail, Safari and TextEdit) from Edit you select Show Substitutions, then check "Text Replacement" and "Replace All." Note, and this doesn't seem right, there must be spaces between the replaced figures for each new figure to be replaced with the substitution. I can't figure out "Replace in Selection." If I highlight a group of unslashed zeros, either with spaces between or none, nothing happens.

Since there are still a number of steps involved, seems like Automator would be the best way to go, if you can get that working.

Message was edited by: WZZZ