ASCII codes for MACs

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Level 1

10 points

ASCII codes for MACs

Before switching to Apple Mac, I was a PC/Windows user virtually since its inception. Already I am missing many of the features you can get on Windows, one of which seems to be the use of ASCII codes.

When I was typing in Spanish on my PC and wanted to use á or ñ, for example, all I had to do was hold down the Alt key and type either 0225 or 0241 and immediately those characters dropped into place in whatever application I was using. (And I only had to learn about 10 codes and that was Spanish covered!) But in Apple it seems incredibly more cumbersome. I have to take my hand away from my keyboard, go to the mouse, in Safari go to Edit, then Special Characters, then go through the various lists to find the character I need, then use the mouse to click Insert. Phew, what a palaver! And it's a different menu in Word, Excel, etc.

I know you can drop down various language specific keyboards which I have done from time to time, but that's irritating if you are switcihing between languages frequently.

So, does anyone know how I can use ASCII codes thus enabling me to keep typing without having to take my hands off the keyboard? This will speed up my output considerably.

Any help gratefully received.

G

iMac

Posted on Oct 11, 2011 2:02 AM

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Answer 1

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Oct 11, 2011 3:33 AM in response to graham118

This what the Character Palette is for.

Set Spanish as your second language so you can easily switch from one to another.

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Answer 2

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Oct 11, 2011 3:52 AM in response to graham118

Hi

the common ones like ñ and å etc are easily accessed by holding the Option (alt) key, when pressing the relevant letter key. Opening question marks - similarly hold the Option key when pressing the one for a ? like ¿

Some, like å you press option & a together; others, like ñ require Option-N first, then a second press of n.

Check out http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8504.html or http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8504.html & hopefully you'll find that most all can be accessed without needing to open special characters.

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Answer 3

Oct 11, 2011 4:19 AM in response to graham118

If you are using OS X Lion it becomes easier.

In Lion, all you need do is press and hold down the letter, and a popup will appear offering the 'special' characters associated with that letter. There is a number assigned to each character - press the number, and that character will be inserted.

Example for n -

For the enya character, just press 1 and ñ will be inserted.

Works with Shift, too, for capital versions.

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Answer 4

graham118 Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 11, 2011 5:06 AM in response to andyBall_uk

Thanks Andy and to Klaus and Don.

The use of the Option (alt key) works brilliantly for the accented Latin provided you use Alt+e first then type the letter to get á, é, í, ó and ú. And alt plus n followed by n gives ñ. Fantastic! But I'm still struggling with introductory exclamation marks and question marks.

Klaus, I've set Spanish as my second language, so we'll see what happens when I next log in.

Note that I'm using OS X 10.6.8.

Already I can be a lot more efficient. Now, why didn't the folks at the Apple Store know this?!!

G.

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,812 points

Oct 11, 2011 6:23 AM in response to graham118

graham118 wrote:

But I'm still struggling with introductory exclamation marks and question marks.

On the US layout, ¡ is alt + 1, ¿ is alt + shift + /.

You can use Keyboard Viewer to see all this.

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Answer 6

graham118 Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 11, 2011 7:09 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thanks Tom - those work on my English keyboard too (which probably has the same config as yours). So now I can do all the Spanish special characters without my hands leaving the keyboard. Brilliant!

Thanks to everyone.

G.

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Answer 7

Jan 15, 2014 3:22 PM in response to graham118

I have a similar question to Graham118, however I am not using Spanish but rather am a frequent user of mathematical symbols: § (alt 21), ½ (alt 171), α (alt 224), ß (alt 225), π (alt 227), Σ (alt 228), σ (alt 229), µ (alt 230), τ (alt 231), Θ (alt 233), Ω (alt 234), δ (alt 235), φ (alt 237), ε (alt 238), ± (alt 241), ≥ (alt 242), ≤ (alt 243), ÷ (alt 246), ≈ (alt 247), ° (alt 248), ∙ (alt 249).

I am well aware of the onerous method of inserting these characters into a WORD document by navigating through multiple menus as Graham118 describes. Like Graham, I am looking for a quick and simple way for inserting these ASCII characters (like the PC method of pressing [ALT] and then keying a three digit number code into the keypad). Is there a short cut in MAC for ASCII characters as described above?

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Answer 8

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,812 points

Jan 15, 2014 3:45 PM in response to LSCriscione

Technically ascii is only 126 characters, so those are beyond it, but what you call them doesn't matter as far as making them is concerned.

If you like the number method, you can activate the Unicode Hex keyboard layout in system preferences. It types like the usual US one, but special characters are made by holding down alt/option and typing the Unicode 4 digit hex number. For example § is 00a7.

It would probably be more common to open Character Viewer (Edit > Special Characters) and put all those in the Favorites section, where you could just double click on them or drag/drop to enter.

Some of them can be made from the US keyboard via option/alt or option/alt plus shift. You can see which ones by opening the Keyboard Viewer and depressing those keys.

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Answer 9

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,812 points

Jan 15, 2014 4:02 PM in response to LSCriscione

PS A list of what can be made from the normal keyboard:

http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codemac.html

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